{"id":17118,"date":"2021-11-12T23:37:58","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T04:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=17118"},"modified":"2021-11-12T23:38:05","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T04:38:05","slug":"fsc-mens-basketball-drop-season-opener-in-close-battle-against-west-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2021\/11\/12\/fsc-mens-basketball-drop-season-opener-in-close-battle-against-west-alabama\/","title":{"rendered":"FSC Men&#8217;s Basketball Drop Season Opener in Close Battle against West Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"942\" height=\"530\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IMG_8725.jpg?resize=942%2C530&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IMG_8725.jpg?w=942&amp;ssl=1 942w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IMG_8725.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IMG_8725.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Florida Southern College men&#8217;s basketball team came up short in their season opener against West Alabama, 74-69, on Friday afternoon in the first game of the SSC\/GSC Challenge at McArthur Center on the campus of Eckerd College.<br><br>A close matchup&nbsp;throughout the game came down to the final seconds. The Mocs (0-1) had the narrow lead at halftime shooting 50% from the field, including 57.1% from deep. However, the Tigers (1-0) were able to fight back with points in the paint.<br><br>&#8220;They are a tough team to play against because their style is so much different from ours, but we didn&#8217;t make the tough plays like they did,&#8221; said head coach<strong>&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/coaches.aspx?rc=281\">Mike Donnelly<\/a><\/em>.<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8220;But we will learn from it and grow from it; we got a quick turnaround tomorrow.&#8221;<br><br><strong>HOW IT HAPPENED<\/strong><br><br><strong>FIRST HALF<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Florida Southern scored first with a jumper by&nbsp;<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/roster.aspx?rp_id=3868\">Xavier Rhodes<\/a><\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;as both teams struggled to find the net, with a 2-2 tie four minutes into the game. After a five minute scoring drought by the Mocs,&nbsp;<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/roster.aspx?rp_id=3877\">Luke Anderson<\/a><\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;nailed the and-one bucket for an 8-5 score with 13:34 on the clock. Revived by Anderson&#8217;s points, the Mocs had an 8-1 rally after&nbsp;<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/roster.aspx?rp_id=3906\">E.J. Dambreville<\/a><\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;nailed a 3-pointer, and Rhodes followed up with a fast break layup for a 10-9 lead. At the halfway point in the half, the Tigers were up by one, 14-13.<\/li><li>A close match into the latter part of the half,&nbsp;<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/roster.aspx?rp_id=3873\">Tarik Mckelphin<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong>broke up a run by the Tigers with back-to-back 3-pointers with four minutes left in the half, down to a score of 29-26. West Alabama hit free throws to boost the lead, but&nbsp;<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/roster.aspx?rp_id=3870\">Jack Casale<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong>hit a 3 for a two-point game with two minutes left. The Tigers turned the ball over with Mckelphin for his third 3-pointer from a late lead in the half. Foul by the Mocs and Tigers shot two, making one for a tie game. Casale hit another 3-pointer for a three point lead with 18 seconds left. In their last possession, the Tigers hit a&nbsp;last second shot, but the Mocs led 35-34&nbsp;at the half. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>SECOND HALF<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Mocs kept the intensity with Mckelphin hitting a layup and follow-up defensive rebound. Fouled on a 3-point attempt, Rhodes hit two of them for a 39-34 lead one minute into the game. The Tigers had a 6-0 run interrupted by Casale&#8217;s fourth 3-pointer of the game to regain the lead (42-20) at 17:17 in the game. UWA tied the game at 42 with 15 minutes left in the game. A technical foul by UWA coach gave the Mocs two free throws nailed by&nbsp;<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/roster.aspx?rp_id=3871\">Jadin Booth<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong>for a 44-42 lead. The Tigers had a 6-0 run into the second media timeout for a 48-44 UWA lead.&nbsp;<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/roster.aspx?rp_id=3863\">DeAndre Campbell<\/a><\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;shot 3-4 free throws in back-to-back fouls to bring the game within two at the halfway point (47-49).<\/li><li>Both teams traded points, but&nbsp;<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fscmocs.com\/roster.aspx?rp_id=3875\">Babatunde Ajike<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong>hit two layups to tie the game at 51 with 8:59 on the clock. UWA scored five points, but Mckelphin found Ajike in the paint for his sixth point in the half (53-56). Campbell broke up a rally by the Tigers with a layup, followed by&nbsp;a steal from&nbsp;Rhodes that&nbsp;hit Campbell to drain a 3-pointer and tie the game at 58 with 6:10 on the clock. With UWA and FSC in the bonus, Anderson hit both of his free throws for a 60-63 slight deficit with four minutes left. After the last media timeout, Rhodes hit both free throws, down one point (62-63). A fast break by Rhodes again brought the deficit to one with 2:42 left. Defensive rebounding by the Mocs led to a deep assist by Rhodes to a wide open Anderson in the paint for a late lead (66-65) with 1:56 on the clock. The Tigers hit a 3-pointer (66-68) for a lead with less than one minute left on the clock. A steal by Dambreville prevented the UWA score and allowed a fouled Anderson to go to the line shooting two. Anderson hit one for a 67-68 deficit with 28.3 in the second half. Going to the line to stop the clock, the Tigers made both free throws with 22.5 left (67-70). Rhodes took the easy layup with 12.3 on the clock, down by one (69-70). Again fouling for the late stop, the Mocs had a contested shot to tie the game, but unable to go in as the Tigers held on for the win.<br>&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>INSIDE THE NUMBERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Florida Southern&nbsp;is now 4-4 all-time against West Alabama, including 2-2 on the road against the Tigers.<\/li><li>Rhodes led the Mocs with 14 points in the game, with eight points in the second half. Casale and Mckelphin were close behind with 12 and 11 points, respectively.<\/li><li>Dambreville, named to the SSC First Team last season, had seven rebounds in the game, but unable to get points on the board, settling for three. &nbsp;<\/li><li>After hitting eight 3-pointers in the first half (57.1%), the Mocs were unable to continue into the second half, with only two made from distance.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>UP NEXT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Moccasins face Delta State University at 12:30 PM Saturday in their final game of the SSC\/Gulf South Challenge.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Florida Southern College men&#8217;s basketball team came up short in their season opener against West Alabama, 74-69, on Friday afternoon in the first game of the SSC\/GSC Challenge at&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[1702],"class_list":["post-17118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fsc-sports","tag-fsc-mens-basketball-drop-season-opener-in-close-battle-against-west-alabama"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}