#16 Florida Southern Overcomes Deficit To Defeat Tampa

LAKELAND, Fla. - After trailing by 22 points, No. 16 Florida Southern College forced overtime to hand The University of Tampa a 95-89 loss in men's basketball action. The setback is the fourth straight for the Spartans, who fall to 8-7 overall and 3-4 in the Sunshine State Conference. The Moccasins improve to 15-2 and 5-2 in league action.

The Spartans came out shooting, connecting on 56.7 percent from the field in the first half to take a 43-27 lead to intermission. After getting out to a 6-0 lead, UT's advantage reached double figures with a 21-11 edge at the 8:32 mark of the opening half.

UT maintained its pace to begin the second half, building a 22-point lead with 12:21 to play. The Spartans went up 65-43 with 11:23 remaining in regulation before the Mocs came storming back. FSC proceeded to score on its next 10 possessions to cut the Spartan margin to 69-59 with 7:42 on the clock.

Southern continued to chip away at the UT advantage, coming within three points on a Terry Jenkins 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining. A Jenkins layup then put the Mocs within one as Tampa had the possession with 21 seconds to play. Ashton Graham connected on the front-end of two free throws before Jenkins forced overtime with a layup to knot the score at 82-82.

The home court was friendly to Florida Southern in overtime as it scored the first five points of overtime to grab its first lead of the contest. The Mocs saw the lead balloon to nine points with 49 seconds to play as FSC outscored the Spartans 13-7 in overtime.

Rashad Callaway led all scorers with 29 points and also paced the Spartans with five assists and two steals.

Graham, a sophomore from Toronto, Ont., earned his first start and responded with a career high21 points on 7-13 shooting from the field. He was also 3-4 from 3-point range and grabbed a team high seven rebounds with two steals in 44 minutes of action.

Anthony LaBruno added 14 points while Marcus Morrison registered 10 for the Spartans. LaBruno also added seven rebounds to tie Graham for team honors.

Tampa returns home, where it will host Barry University in an SSC meeting on Saturday. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Bob Martinez Sports Center. UT will offer live stats and a webcast through www.tampaspartans.com.

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