LAKELAND, Fla. –
Jaylen Lemons scored a team-high 22 points, 16 of which came in the first half, and added eight rebounds to go along with six assists in Flagler College's 96-80 season-opening loss to Florida Southern College in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic Saturday afternoon at the George W. Jenkins Field House.
"I was really proud of our team tonight," said head coach
Blake Selland. "Our guys fought hard. It wasn't the outcome we wanted, but I told our team if we play like that, good things are going to happen this year."
Malik Bryant added 20 points while
Kyle Young chipped in with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Chase Fiddler contributed 11 points and
Spencer Bain dished out six assists.
Jadin Booth scored a game-high 28 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the field for the Moccasins. E.J. Dambreville had a double-double with 24 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Wes Bongiorini supplied all of his 18 points in the second half and Dominick Denny tacked on 11 points. Luke Anderson tallied a game-high seven assists.
The two teams played a close first half and a Bryant trey with 39 seconds left pulled the Saints to within three (41-38) at the break.
But a 13-2 run by the Mocs early in the second half opened enough of a gap for Florida Southern to hold on for the win. Bongiorini accounted for six of the points in three-plus minute run.
The Saints closed to within seven (69-62) on a Bryant transition jumper with 9:33 left, but could not get any closer.
Seventeen Flagler turnovers led to 22 Florida Southern points.
Flagler concludes the tournament tomorrow against the defending national champion Northwest Missouri State University at 8 p.m.
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