High-flying Men’s Basketball knocks off #25 Florida Southern on road to kick off Thanksgiving Classic

Lakelend, Fla. —- The Catawba College men's basketball team scored 48 points in the second half on Friday night to hold off 25th-ranked Florida Southern on the road to open play at the Mocs Thanksgiving Classic. 

TEAM STATISTICS

- Catawba was 30-of-69 (43 percent) from the field, while holding Florida Southern to 26-for-67 (39 percent) from the floor

- The Mocs made seven of their 22 (32 percent) three-point field goal attempts, while Catawba also shot 32 percent, going 6-for-19

- The Catawba Indians were 18-of-25 (72 percent) from the free throw line; FSC was 14-for-20 (70 percent) from the charity stripe

- Catawba recorded 12 assists to just 10 turnovers, while forcing Florida Southern to 25 turnovers, which led to a 32-10 advantage in points off turnovers

- The Mocs held 52-36 advantage in rebounds with 16 offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points

- Catawba's bench out-scored FSC's 30-19

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Javeon Jones went for a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field along with seven rebounds and tied a single-game school record with seven steals

- Kris Robinson continued his hot shooting, draining five three-pointers to add 19 points

- De'Angelo Epps added 10 points off the bench

- Justin Banks pitched in nine points, seven boards and two blocks

- Peyton Gerald also had nine points with five rebounds

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- Catawba got off to another fast start, leading 8-0 over four minutes in

- A jumper from FSC's Erickson Bans cut the host's deficit to 10-4

- The Catawba Indians responded with a 10-0 run, capped by back-to-back three-point jumpers from Robinson to take a huge 20-4 lead at the 8-minute mark

- Florida Southern responded with a 16-4 run of their own to cut their deficit all the way down to four points in just over four minutes

- And and-one from Jones pushed Catawba's advantage back up to 29-20 at the 2:38 mark

- Robinson drilled another three-pointer to return Catawba's lead to double digits with just over 90 seconds left in the half

- Bans' late triple brough Florida Southern to within 36-29 at the halftime break

SECOND HALF

- Jones connected on a three-pointer to open the half, but back-to-back buckets for the Mocs cut their deficit down to six points

- The lead climbed back up to 10 points on Bivins' hook shot in the lane at the 17:22 mark

- Bans' pair of free throws cut the deficit to 45-40 at the 15-minute mark

- Florida Southern cut their deficit to four points shortly after, but Robinson responded with another three-pointer to return the Catawba cushion

- Banks' dunk made it a 58-48 Catawba lead near the midway point of the half

- Jones' steal led to Wallace's highlight dunk just under the seven-minute mark

- Gerald's layup pushed Catawba's advantage to 72-59 two minutes later

- Both teams did not score for two and a half minutes late in the second half, but Robinson's triple stopped the drought and to put the Catawba Indians up 12

- Catawba took care of business at the free throw line down the stretch to earn just their second ranked win on the road since 2004

UP NEXT

- Catawba closes play in Lakeland at the Mocs Thanksgiving Classic tomorrow, facing Saint Leo at 5:30 p.m.