LAKELAND, Fla. – Isaiah Hill's double-double and Kyran McClure's career-high not enough for Saint Leo men's basketball traveled to Florida Southern and battled in a Sunshine State Conference game in the George W. Jenkins Field House, but came up short to the Moccasins, 89-81. 

Kyran McClure's career-high 22 points was not enough as Saint Leo men's basketball traveled to Florida Southern and battled in a Sunshine State Conference game in the George W. Jenkins Field House, but came up short to the Moccasins, 89-81.
 
Kyran McClure scored 22 points to pace the Lions offensive attack where Isaiah Hill recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Searcy and DeAndre King joined McClure and Hill in double-digits.

"Kyran played well tonight; he has progressed well and has stepped up for us," Head Coach Vince Alexander stated. "As a staff, we are proud of some of the younger guys who stepped up tonight, but we need to get the rest of the team going. We will focus on Saturday's game and get back in the gym to work on the little things."
 
The Basics
Final Score: Florida Southern 89, Saint Leo 81
Location: George W. Jenkins Field House | Lakeland, Fla.
Records: Saint Leo 9-14, 5-7 SSC | Florida Southern 12-8, 6-6 SSC
 
How It Happened…
1H | Florida Southern opened up the game using three-pointers to its advantage, where the Green and Gold used quick layups and foul shots to counter the attack. It would be back and forth until the Lions took a 14-11 lead with 14:19 to play on a Kyran McClure layup. The Mocs would tie things up at 16 all before Saint Leo used a 5-0 run to take a 21-16 lead. The Lions would use another quick 7-0 run with DeAndre King three's to the 7:59 mark, 27-20, capped off by a Junior Searcy dunk. FSC cut things to one point, 31-30 and 35-34, before the Mocs were able to take the lead, 36-35 on a Slinky Jones jumper. Daniel Duarte's free throws pushed the Lions back in front, 37-36 with 2:41 to play. The lead would exchange hands once more as the Mocs cut the Lions 39-36 lead to 39-38 with 1:37 to go. King would lay it in with 11-ticks left to put Saint Leo ahead, 41-40 before Jack Rauch converted all three free throws to end the half. | Florida Southern 43-41 | 
 
2H | DeAndre King would tie things out of the gate with a jumper, 43-43, before the Moccasins used an 11-0 run to take a 54-43 lead. Kyran McClure drained a three to cut it to eight, 54-46 before the Mocs took that lead into the 15:36 media timeout. McClure would use his own 5-0 run with two free throws and a three-pointer to cut the FSC lead to three, 54-51. The Mocs would build their lead back to six points, 62-56 as the two teams headed to a media timeout with 11:39 to play. Junior Searcy would score five straight points as the Lions cut the lead to 62-61 with 10:23 to play. Over seven minutes of action, the Mocs would gain control and push their lead to 14, 83-69 with 3:46 to play. Down but not out, the Lions used FSC turnovers to cut it to five points with 41-seconds to play, 84-79, after King went 1-for-2 at the free throw line. The Mocs would use free throws to pull away with an eight-point win. | Florida Southern 89-81 |

Points to Note

• The loss evens the season series at 1-1 while the Lions fall to 9-14, 5-7 SSC.
• Kyran McClure scores 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field including a 4-for-6 mark from downtown. McClure added a 4-for-5 mark from the charity stripe.
• Junior Searcy tallied 17 points while DeAndre King tallied 15 points.
• Isaiah Hill notched his double-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and dished out five assists as King snagged five rebounds.
• The Lions shot 15-for-17 (88.2%) from the free throw line while they shot 30-for-61 (49.2%).

 
For Florida Southern

• Florida Southern evened the season series with the win and moves to 12-8, 6-6 SSC.
• Brett Hanson led the Mocs with 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including a 3-for-5 mark from downtown.
• Jonathan Lawton and Jack Rauch each added 20 points while Rauch completed the double-double with 11 rebounds.
• Ben Marello and Slinky Jones rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 and 11, respectively.

Next Up
Saint Leo returns home to host Embry-Riddle at 7:30 p.m. on January 27 in the Marion Bowman Activities Center, as the Lions look to square up the season series with the Eagles.
 
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