LAKELAND, Fla. – Saint Leo men's basketball drops a 10-point decision to No. 22 Florida Southern inside the Streamline Sales Arena at Jenkins Field House Wednesday night. The Lions dropped their first Sunshine State Conference matchup 86-76.

"Florida Southern played really well," head coach Lance Randall commented following the loss. "Our defense wasn't very good this whole week, we had a terrible week of practice and it translated out here on the court."

Randall continued, "Execution was poor the first half, we struggled to get into our offense. There was too much one-on-one, no physicality on ball screens and we settled for whatever we could with a ton of hero-ball going on out there. Undisciplined. That's exactly how we practiced this week and that's how we played tonight."

"On the flip side, I appreciate how that group battled. It's a bit of an unrealistic situation, but we fought with them and we have pride that we battled to the end and that's something but can't be sorry for yourself when we have Nova Southeastern coming in Saturday."

Gintaras Bartaskas paced Saint Leo (6-3, 1-1 SSC) with 19 points while adding seven rebounds, one assist and three steals to his stat line. Three others joined Bartaskas in double-digits, Isaiah Hill and Kyran McClure each scored 17 points while Rusty Moorer scored 10 off the bench for the Green and Gold.
 
No. 22 Florida Southern (7-1, 2-1 SSC) saw four score double-digits as well led by Brandon Carroll's game-high 28 points, followed by Jair Rodgers (19), Brett Hanson (13), and Jack Rauch (12).
 
From the tip, Florida Southern would control the pace of the game running to a quick 5-0 lead before Kyran McClure scored five points to draw the Lions to within two, 7-5. The Mocs quickly pushed the lead to double-digits, 23-13, with 10:27 to play.
 
After trailing by 14, 27-14, Saint Leo got things going, heading up an 8-0 run with three's from Gintaras Bartaskas and Wade Coomer and a jumper from Erik Lahm, the Lions cut it to six points. The two teams would match each other through the final 5:53 as the Mocs led 43-36 at the break.
 
A cold start for the Green and Gold out of the break saw the Mocs push their lead to 20, 58-38, in the first five minutes of action in the second half with a 15-2 run. Florida Southern continued to hold a double-digit lead as the Lions cut it to 10 late, 79-69 and 81-71, but couldn't crack the 10-point threshold falling 86-76.  
 
Beyond the Boxscore

• This was the 10^th straight 10-point or less decision between the two programs.
• Gintaras Bartaskas set his career-high at 19 points on 6-17 FG, 4-13 3FG, 3-3 FT shooting.

 
Up Next
The Lions will return home to host the second-ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7 inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center.
 
For the latest news, updates, and information on the Saint Leo men's basketball, be sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Don't miss out on the 2019-20 Basketball Pride Pass, now on sale. The Saint Leo Basketball Pride Pass gives each fan admission to all home men's and women's basketball events. For more information visit here.