Rollins and Florida Southern were tied at 26 at the half of the opener of the Sunshine State Conference tournament at Warden Arena Wednesday night. It looked to be like it was going to be another in a long line of great games in the rivalry of the two teams who have been playing each other the longest in the conference. The Mocs had other ideas. Behind red hot 3-point shooting in the second half from Seth Evans and Kevin Capers, the Mocs advanced to the tournament semifinals with a 77-63 win over the Tars.
With the win the Mocs improved to 18-9 on the season and defeated the Tars for the first time in three attempts this season. Seth Evans poured in a game high 27 points including a perfect 10 of 10 at the foul line. Brett Bailey added 16, and Kevin Capers had 13 for the Mocs. The Mocs shot 49 percent from the field and nine of 20 from the 3-point line (7-11 in the second half). The Mocs were 16-21 at the free throw line and had 17 assists as opposed to just eight turnovers.
The Tars ended the season with a record of 16-11. They had three players tally double figures on the night. Brett Chance led the way with 16 points, Myk Brown added 13, and Dave Diakite scored 12. The Tars shot 44 percent from the floor in the game and just 35 percent (8-23) from the 3-point line. Rollins made all 15 of there attempts at the free throw line. The Tars won the battle of the boards 31-26. The Tars had 8 assists and turned the ball over 19 times.
The Mocs jumped out of the gates quickly and led 12-3 early on. It was 20-9 FSC before the Tars went on a 11-0 run to tie the game at 20. The Tars took the first and only lead they would have in the game 24-22 after a Myk Brown three with just under a minute in the opening half. Kevin Capers would score right before the half to tie the game going into the locker room.
The second half started with the Mocs opening up a eight point lead (48-40). The Tars would get a pair of three's from Chris Uhle to get to within 47-43 with 9:17 to go. That is as close as the Tars would get as Evans and Capers would catch fire in the second half.
With the win FSC will head home to the Jenkins Field House to face top seeded Florida Tech Saturday. The loss means this will be the first year in three season the Tars will not participate in the NCAA South Regional. It also stops the Tars quest of winning the conference tournament at two seasons.
Other Scores:
Florida Tech 98 Lynn 92 (3 OT)
Eckerd 71 Barry 62
Saint Leo 62 Nova Southeastern 57
Saturday's Semifinals:
(5) Florida Southern vs (1) Florida Tech
(3) Saint Leo vs (2) Eckerd
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