Mocs pull through in close game against Palm Beach Atlantic

The men’s basketball team won with a home advantage against the Sailfish this past Saturday in their third conference game of the season.

The current record for the Men’s team is 3-6 overall and 2-1 in their conference.

“It was a must win game and we had our backs against the wall," freshman Josh Brown said. " We had some big contributions and guys stepped up. I feel like this was our break-out game and hopefully we can keep this going."

Although they got off to a slow start, with PBA having an early double digit lead, FSC was able to pick it back up cutting the deficit to 10 points in the first half. The Mocs were able to finish the first half with a three-point lead.

Senior Jeremiah Davis, freshman Brett Hanson and sophomore Jarel Spellmen were all able to score more than 10 points in the first half to bring the team away from that shortfall.

While both teams had 50+ points scored in the first half, the second half was lead by a total of 70 points by Florida Southern, compared to a mere 44 by Palm Beach Atlantic.

Among those players who scored for FSC, junior Tyler Ross had an outstanding 32 points and 13 rebounds. He scored a total of 25 points in the second half to lead FSC to a conference win.

“I am just happy I was able to go out there and help us get a much needed conference win,” Ross said. “We had a great week of practice leading up to the game and it is great to see it carry over. With that being said, we have a big game against Barry University next week, so hopefully this game will lead us in the right direction.”

With 39 seconds still left on the clock, freshman Jake Rudolph’s three pointer, FSC had all the points they needed to have victory over the Sailfish.

“Just being in Jenkins Fieldhouse during that game was exhilarating. Everyone I know was just so excited every time we would score and I had a blast watching this game,” sophomore Nick Couch said.

Davis finished the game with 22 points, Hanson scored 21 and senior Michael Volovic ended with 15. Volovic also had his first career double-double with 10 assists.

Spellman scored 15 points, rebounded 10 times and had five blocks. He has 110 career blocks and is now in seventh in Florida Southern history.

The Lady Mocs also took a 15-point lead and won against PBA this past Saturday.

Sophomore Anja Fuchs-Robetin lead the team with 21 points and 11 rebounds along with her first double-double of the season.

The current record for the women’s team is 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the Sunshine State Conference.

Florida Southern was able to hold a 10-point lead over Palm Beach Atlantic, thanks to their strong defense early in the first quarter.

Sophomore Camille Giardina was able to hit a three-pointer early in the first quarter but it was not enough for the Mocs, as the Sailfish were able to take the lead making it 26-25 towards the end of the first half.

“First half we weren’t hitting our shots but we were able to turn it around in the second half. We played better and we played a solid defense!” junior Jensen Blassage said.

PBA was able to hold down the lead as they went into half time with two point lead making the score 32-30.

The Lady Mocs were able to battle back and tie the game and taking a one-point lead late in the third quarter, but things quickly changed, as the Sailfish were able to tie up the game with a free throw shot.

In the fourth quarter Florida Southern outscored Palm Beach and lead with six points to take home the win.

“I knew when Jensen our leading scorer at that point fouled out early in the 4th, that we needed somebody else to step up and score," Fuchs-Robetin said. "Obviously its nice to score a lot of points but the team success is way more important to me than my individual statistics."

Blassage had a total of 19 points and Giardina brought in 13. Senior Gianna Vastola had 10 rebounds and Freshman Elsa Landberg had four assists for the night.

“In the last quarter we finally found our rhythm again, got defensive stops and scored on offense,” Fuchs-Robetin said. “It was an important win after the 2 tough losses on the road.”

The next home game for the Men’s and Women’s basketball team will be a conference game against Barry on Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively.