LAKELAND, Fla.- Winona State men's basketball fell 88-77 to #18 Florida Southern in a non-conference showdown.
The Warriors jumped out to red-hot 30-15 lead after a 14-3 run. The Moccasins later tied it at the half 44-44 then pulled away in the second frame for the double-digit victory.
How it Happened:
After a 4-0 start by Florida Southern, WSU went on a 10-0 run propelled by three-pointers by
Aidan Bardic and
Alessandro Tonelli with
Ryan Heise knocking in a pair of shots to make it 10-4 with 16:57 remaining in the half. Back-to-back three-balls by Tonelli and
Tyler Mason extended the Warriors lead to 16-9. Following a FSC three-pointer, Winona State went on a monster 14-3 run that was capped off by Tonelli's third three-pointer of the half to make it 30-15 Warriors with 12:10 left in the half. A huge run by the Moccasins cut the WSU lead to 32-29 with 8:36 remaining in the half. Another three-pointer by Mason followed by a Bardic jumper pushed the Warriors to a 41-33 lead with 3:27 left to play in the half. FSC battled back to tie the game at 44-44 with a pair of free throws from Brady Corso.
A four-point play by Bardic to start off the half gave the Warriors a narrow 48-46 lead. FSC jumped ahead 59-53 with 14:15 remaining after a string of three-pointers. Heise put the Warriors within one point at 59-58 after a 5-0 mini-run by himself with 13:03 left in the contest. A jumper by Mason kept the game tight at 68-65 FSC with 9:41 remaining.
Tyson Keil threw down a dunk with 6:44 to put the game at 75-70 Florida Southern. FSC erupted to their biggest lead of the night at 83-70 after an Ameer Ramadan jumper with less than two minutes to play.
Jackson Hayes scored on a layup from
Connor Roffers to make it the games final at 88-77.
Statistical Comparison
- The Warriors shot a solid 29-of-56 (51.8%) from the field while the Moccasins went 32-of-62 (51.6%) in the win.
- WSU edged Florida Southern in the rebounding column at 32-28.
- Winona State shot a quality 11-of-23 (47.8%) from three-point land with the Moccasins shooting 11-of-29 (37.9%).
- From the free throw line, WSU went eight-of-10 (80.0%) while FSC shot 13-of-19 (68.4%) from the charity stripe.
- Mason led the Warriors in scoring with a season-high 21 points on seven-of-13 shooting and four-of-nine from deep.
- Bardic and Heise each registered 14 points in the loss with Bardic leading the team with nine rebounds and five assists.
- Tonelli added 13 points on five-of-eight shooting and three-of-five from three-point land.
- Corso led the Moccasins with 22 points on seven-of-12 shooting, while going three-of-six from deep and five-of-six from the charity stripe.
- Amare Miller scored 17 points on an efficient seven-of-eight shooting.
- Other FSC double digit scorers were Elijah Walsh (12), Charlie Dalton (11), and Khalil Ross (11).
Winona State will turn around and play Saint Leo on Saturday, November 29 at 5:00pm (EST).
