Lakeland, Fla. – Lynn University's men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought battle to Florida Southern, 68-67, Saturday night at FSC's Jenkins Field House. The Fighting Knights fall to 3-12 overall and 1-4 in the Sunshine State Conference while the Mocs improve to 12-4, 4-1 in the SSC.
Statistically, the game was dead-even with both teams making 25 field goals with Lynn shooting 42.4% compared to 39.1% for FSC. Lynn also made 12-16 from the free throw line compared to 10-12 for the Mocs. The biggest difference came with the long ball as Florida Southern made six treys in the second half and eight in the game. LU sunk five treys on the evening.
Chris Hall led the Fighting Knights with 16 points with 14 coming in the second half. Jimmy Gaskins recorded a double-double 14 points and 10 rebounds while Cameron McCallum added 13. Josh Garcia had 11 points but all came in the first half.
Florida Southern went into the locker room at halftime with a 30-29 lead in a toughly-contested first half. Both teams went 10-of-29 (34.5%) shooting in the first half with eight free throws apiece. The one-point differential came on a three as the Mocs made two in the half, compared to just one for the Fighting Knights.
The Mocs got out early in the second and took a seven-point lead at 40-33 but Lynn answered right back with a long run and eventually took the lead, 53-51 on three by Chris Hall with 11:13 left.
After a free throw by FSC, another three by Hall, a jumper by Gaskins and a three by Jovan Robinson gave Lynn it's largest lead of the game at 61-52 with nine minutes remaining in regulation.
FSC then went on a 14-2 run to take the lead at 66-63 with 4:45 to go.
A layup by McCallum cut the lead to one at 3:03 left but Terry Jenkins answered right back with a jumper to extend the lead back to three. McCallum responded with another layup to make the score 68-67 with just 1:34 to go.
Lynn had a pair of opportunities to take the lead in the final minute but were unable to get a shot off in both possessions.
LU is back in action Wednesday night when they host SSC rival Nova Southeastern on January 19 for a 7:30 tip. Fans can follow the action by logging onto www.LynnFightingKnights.com and clicking on "Game Central."
