PREVIEW: Lions Host Moccasins in SSC Men's Basketball Championship Finale

PREVIEW: Lions Host Moccasins in SSC Men's Basketball Championship Finale

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MELBOURNE, Fla. - [PDF Bracket | MBB Tournament Page] - No. 2 Saint Leo University will take on No. 4 Florida Southern College in the 2021 Sunshine State Conference Men's Basketball Tournament finals. Game time is slated for 4:00 PM in the Marion Bowman Activities Center on Saint Leo's campus. Fans can watch the broadcast live on the SSC Digital Network.

No fans are permitted to attend any games in the 2021 Sunshine State Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. All games will be live-streamed at no cost on the Sunshine State Conference Digital Network. You can access the Sunshine State Conference Digital Network by visiting sunshinestateconference.tv or via Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku by searching "SSC Digital Network." Fans can find more information about the SSC Digital Network here.

How They Got There:
Saint Leo University hosted and defeated #7 seed Barry University, 67-58, on Tuesday evening. SLU's Rusty Moorer led all players with 15 points, while Frank Webb led the Lions with 10 rebounds (Box). The Lions went on to defeat Florida Tech, 78-68, in the semifinals on Thursday evening. Five Lions scored in double figures in the win, led by Webb with a game-high 18 points. Webb also completed a double-double with a team-high 10 rebounds (Box).

Florida Southern College defeated #5 seed Rollins College, 88-82, in Lakeland during the quarterfinals. FSC's Jalyn Hinton scored a game-high 33 points, while teammate EJ Dambreville pulled in a game-high 15 rebounds (Box). FSC then pulled off the only road team victory of the tournament thus far with a 104-86 win at #1 seed Palm Beach Atlantic University. Deandre Campbell (25), Xavier Rhodes (22), and Dambreville (21) all scored over 20 points for the Moccasins in the win. Dambreville (21 pts / 12 reb) and Hinton (18 pts / 14 reb) recorded double-doubles (Box).

2020-21: Saint Leo hosted and defeated Florida Southern, 79-71, on February 24th. SLU's Cantia Rahming led all scorers with 20 points, followed by teammate Jared Coomer with 18 points. Rhodes and Dambreville led FSC in scoring with 16 points apiece. Rahming, Dambreville, and Hinton all tallied a double-double in the contest.

Tournament History:
Saint Leo: 16-33 record - 2x runner up
Florida Southern: 79-17 record - 25x champion - 4x runner up
Tournament Series: 8-2 in favor of FSC
Last Meeting: #3 FSC 80, #6 SLU 78 in the 2019 quarterfinals

NOTES: The Lions are gunning for their first SSC Tournament title...Saint Leo last made it to the tournament final in 2012, where they lost 61-58 to #5 Florida Southern...It stands as the only FSC title in which they were seeded above #3...Florida Southern has won 25 of the 43 SSC Men's Basketball Championships to date (58%)...The Moccasins are 79-17 in tournament games (82%) and 25-4 in the title game (86%)...The last #2 vs. #4 matchup in the tournament saw #4 Eckerd defeating #2 Florida Southern in the 2004 championship game...Seeds for the 2021 tournament were drawn at random.

Tournament Information:
The 2021 SSC Basketball Championships are sponsored by S3 Design and will be hosted at campus sites. Please contact SSC Assistant Commissioner Robert Brennecke with any questions or media inquiries.
 

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