Box Score
LAKELAND, Fla. – Seth Evans connected on six three pointers on his way to a game-high 22 points and Florida Southern College broke away from a halftime deadlock to defeat the Eckerd College men's basketball program on Wednesday night, 76-61.
Fellow FSC starters Dominic Lane and Brett Bailey contributed 13 and 10, respectively.
Sophomore
Alex Bodney led the Tritons with 19 points. He made 15-of-16 attempts from the charity stripe in addition to a pair of field goals.
Darrien Mack had another strong performance off the bench with 15 points while
Lance Kearse added a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Tritons (7-4, 1-2 SSC) and Mocs (8-3, 2-1 SSC) came into tonight's contest with identical overall and conference records, but the first Sunshine State Conference tilt of the new calendar year went to Southern.
Eckerd was coming off a pair of convincing wins at the Tampa Classic to close out 2011, sinking then-No. 25 Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University and Brock (Ontario) University during the holiday break.
But the Tritons' offense hit an uncharacteristic cold spell and went the final 10:32 without a field goal in the second half. After a layup by Kearse that knotted things up at 56-56, Eckerd was errant on its next 11 attempts from the floor until the final buzzer.
The Tritons committed a season-high 28 turnovers and shot just 25 percent from the field in the second half, 34 percent for the game.
EC was +13 on the glass, outrebounding the Mocs, 44-31.
Evans' long-range prowess was on display in the Jenkins Field House and he hit a pair of back-to-back triples in the midst of an 8-0 run that put FSC up by 10 with just over three minutes in regulation.
Florida Southern's lead swelled up to 15 with 40 seconds left to play.
The Tritons had an answer for each Florida Southern offensive run in the first half, erasing an eight-point deficit by halftime.
After a layup by Brett Bailey had FSC threatening to pull away at the 6:44 mark in the opening period, Bodney sank four consecutive free throws and Mack cashed in on a three-point play to whittle the lead down to one.
Bodney converted two more free throws right before halftime for the game's first tie since four minutes into the tip.
The Tritons are back in action to continue conference play this weekend, traveling to Rollins College on Saturday for a 4 p.m. affair in Winter Park.
