LAKELAND, Fla. — Florida Southern men's basketball (1-1) fell to Black Hills State (1-1) 89-76 on Sunday at George W. Jenkins Field House to split at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic.
"We knew tonight was going to be a difficult challenge," stated Mocs' head coach
Mike Donnelly. "We felt pretty good being up nine points at the half, but we really struggled execution-wise at both ends of the floor in the second half. Losing is never easy, but I am confident that we will learn from this setback and be ready to play winning basketball next weekend."
The Mocs answered the Yellow Jackets' early scoring with perimeter production, getting 3-pointers from
Khalil Ross,
Ameer Ramadan, and
Starrell Hearns during a stretch that helped push the score to 18-13. BHSU came back to go ahead 24-22, but
Charlie Dalton hit a 3-pointer at 10:16 and
Gabe Hernandez added a jumper at 9:32 before Florida Southern built its larger mid-half cushion. Florida Southern's key separation came midway through the first half, when Dalton's layup,
Brayson Green's dunk,
Brady Corso's layup, and two Hernandez free throws produced an 8-0 run from 9:10 to 7:23 and moved the Moccasins ahead 35-29. The Mocs shot 16-for-29 from the field, went 6-for-11 from 3-point range and added nine made free throws, carrying a 47-38 lead into halftime.
The Mocs opened the half by pushing the score to 56-48 at 14:20 behind Hernandez's jumper and free throw, Green's tip-in, and
Adren Roberts' layup and tip-in. Shortly after, the Yellow Jackets gained momentum, going on a 17-0 run, tying the game 56-56 on Caiden Braketa's 3-pointer at 13:02 and moved in front 58-56 on Ben Henderson's layup at 12:27. The Moccasins went without another made field goal until Hernandez's jumper at 9:44. Florida Southern generated six steals and eight offensive rebounds in the half, but shot 9-for-39 from the field and 3-for-19 from 3-point range as the Yellow Jackets collected 24 defensive rebounds. Ross hit FSC's first 3-pointer of the half at 4:04, and Ramadan added 3-pointers at 1:51 and 0:14 before BHSU closed out the 89-76 final.
Hernandez scored 18 points, converting 10 of 13 free throws, and added two steals. Ramadan finished with 13 points behind three 3-pointers and recorded three assists. Corso posted 11 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists. Dalton added eight points, four rebounds and three assists.
Up next, Florida Southern hosts Tuskegee on Friday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. at George W. Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Fla.
