BY JACOB STOUT
Lions’ Pride Sports Writer

Courtesy of Mike Carlson

osue Vazquez and Eric Sharper

On January 13 before a crowd of more than 500 spectators at the Saint Leo’s Marion-Bowman Center, the Saint Leo men’s basketball team upset the Florida Southern Moccasins 91-79. The Moccasins entered the game ranked No. 2 in the nation in NCAA D-II basketball. Solid rebounding by the Lions, paired with poor shooting by the Moccasins, created perfect opportunity for Saint Leo to take lead.
Senior Josue Vazquez got the scoring started with an easy layup from an offensive rebound. Florida Southern came back down the court and hit a 3-pointer but on the next possession for the Lions, a baseline drive finished with a dunk by Jordan Prais set the tone early for what would prove to be an exciting 40 minutes of basketball.

An 11-1 run by the Lions, accentuated with a 3-pointer by Vazquez, had Saint Leo in the driver’s seat for a while. With the score 18-10 in favor of the Lions, Florida Southern ran off six straight points to cut the Saint Leo lead to two points. With about 10 minutes left in the first half, Terry Jenkins of the Moccasins finished a layup to tie the score at 23.

Another 3-pointer by Vazquez, assisted by Daniel Oliver, put the Lions back in the lead by three. The two teams exchanged points and with about six minutes to play in the first half, the Moccasins took the lead for the first time since 30 seconds into the game. The Lions continued to fight and regained the lead. Saint Leo stretched the lead to six but with three seconds to go in the period two free-throws by Rion Rayfield of Florida Southern cut the lead to four points at halftime.

With the score 44-40 starting the second half, the Moccasins came out shooting with Rayfield hitting a 3-pointer. The Lions answered with an 8-2 run of their own, to go up by seven, and never looked back. The Moccasins cut the lead to five points but could not get any closer as Vazquez hit two free throws and Saladeem Dewberry converted a layup to give the Lions a double digit lead.

Another Dewberry layup, assisted by Vazquez, pushed the score to 63-51 in favor of Saint Leo. Good free-throw shooting by the Lions kept the Moccasins at bay. With about nine minutes to go, Dominick Robinson made two free-throws to give Saint Leo a 13 point lead. Two missed shots by Florida Southern gave the Lions possession and Robinson hit a 3-pointer to go up by 16 points.

The Moccasins cut the lead to seven points with about two minutes to play but Saint Leo remained solid at the free-throw line and pushed the lead back to 14 points. A layup by Brett Bailey of Florida Southern was the final basket of the game and the Lions had stunned the Moccasins 91-79.

Robinson was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line and finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

Prais led the Lions with 24 points. Moccasins forward, John Thompson led all scorers with 30 points.

Three days later the Lions played host again. Vazquez had an outstanding game with 16 points and 10 assists as Saint Leo routed Florida College 92-54.