SAINT LEO, Fla. – For the second time in four years under the direction of Vince Alexander, Saint Leo men's basketball will play in the Sunshine State Conference tournament. The Lions earned the sixth seed in the eight-team tournament and will travel to Lakeland to take on third-seeded Florida Southern at 7:30 p.m. inside the Jenkins Field House.

2019 SSC TOURNAMENT …
PDF Bracket | MBB Tournament Page
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No. 1 Nova Southeastern (24-2, 18-2 SSC) hosts No. 8 Tampa (14-14, 8-12 SSC) while No. 4 Eckerd (19-9, 12-8 SSC) hosts No. 5 Barry (17-10, 12-8 SSC), No. 2 Lynn (22-5, 15-5 SSC) hosts No. 7 Palm Beach Atlantic (13-15, 9-11 SSC) and No. 3 Florida Southern (21-7, 14-6 SSC) hosts No. 6 Saint Leo (13-15, 10-10 SSC).

Semifinals and finals will be played March 9th and 10th in Rick Case Arena at the Don Taft University Center on the campus of Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.

THE MATCHUP …
This matchup will serve as the grudge match between the Lions and Mocs as both teams have won on their respective courts. Saint Leo led by 15 at the half but fell 86-83 despite a last second shot inside the George W. Jenkins Field House on Jan. 23.

In the second meeting of the year, the game was tied 38-38 before the Lions outscored the Mocs by seven in the second half to even the season series with a 85-78 final.

For the two game series, the Mocs' Jonathan Lawton leads all scorers with 59 points (29.5 ppg) where Brett Hanson is second in scoring with 52 points (26.0). Kyran McClure is third among all players in scoring and led the Lions with 51 points in the series (25.5). Isaiah Hill and Yalen Reed round out players to average double-figures with 13.5 ppg and 10.5 ppg for the two games.

Head-to-head on the year, Saint Leo outscored Florida Southern 168-164 with 91 first half points and 77 second half points to the Mocs' 76 first half and 88 second half. The Lions will need to protect the ball as they recorded 27 turnovers in the series to the Mocs' 19. The Green and Gold look to continue the red-hot shooting from downtown where the series shooting percentage is 50-percent with 24-for-48 where FSC stands at a minuscule 29.3-percent (12-for-41).

LAST TIME OUT …
Saint Leo fell to Barry 74-73 on a last second shot to end the regular season at 13-15, 10-10 SSC, splitting the season series with the Bucs. Rusty Moorer dropped a new career-high with 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the floor. Isaiah Hill added 16 points for the Green and Gold where Kyran McClure notched 14 points.
 
Florida Southern topped Rollins in a high scoring affair 105-100 in the Jenkins Field House to split the season series with the Tars. Brett Hanson paced the Mocs with 23 points, three points ahead of Jonathan Lawton with 20. Slinky Jones (17), Ben Marello (15), Jack Rauch (14) and DeAndre Campbell (11) all joined in double-figures.
 
TOURNAMENT HISTORY …
The Lions hold a 13-31 record in the SSC tournament with two-second place finishes. Saint Leo has won the regular season title once and has been the runner-ups in the tournament back in 1986 and with the most recent in 2013.
 
As a the fourth-seed in 2016, Saint Leo took down fifth-seeded Nova Southeastern 82-73 inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center.
 
Saint Leo looks to add to the list of 6's over 3's with the last time happening in 2016 when sixth-seeded Lynn defeated third-seed Rollins 85-72. There have been 10 occurrences when the sixth seed has knocked out the third seed in the quarterfinal round.
 
IN JUST A SINGLE SEASON ...
Three current student-athletes look to join the program record book in single season categories as Kyran McClure looks to climb in four categories, Isaiah Hill in one and Yalen Reed in one.
 
McClure enters the Wednesday matchup two free throws shy of tying the program record for free throws made in a single season at 165 but needs just three to set the new record at 166. McClure has made 163 free throws to date. He is 30 points shy of breaking into the single season record for points in a season where he enters at 486 points.
 
Yalen Reed has 38 blocks on the season where the lowest mark in the record book is 39. Isaiah Hill stands at 39 steals on the year and would need to gain 13 to tie his first season mark of 52.