MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Barry knows all too well the type of misery Florida Southern has put the Buccaneers through over the years -- especially in the postseason. Wednesday night, the No. 17 Buccaneers flipped the switch, handing the NCAA Division II champs a 95-79 defeat in the Sunshine State Conference quarterfinals at St. Thomas University.
Wednesday's game was moved to St. Thomas late in the day Wednesday.
The Bucs (22-5) advance to the semifinals to play Saint Leo (19-10) at noon Saturday at the ICI Center in Daytona Beach. Barry lost to the Mocs (10-19) in last year's SSC title game.
Tray Leonard had his team-leading 12th double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, and
Yunio Barrueta had 22 points and eight boards as Barry advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year.
Anders Haas scored 18 points, and had five rebounds, four assists and three steals, and made some clutch defensive plays to hold off a late charge by the Mocs.
Florida Southern cut Barry's 12-point lead down to three with 8:02 to play when Sheldon Zablotny hit a 3-pointer. Haas grabbed an offensive rebound and then dished off to Leonard for a big bucket a minute later. Haas found
Adrian Gonzalez for a layup, and then forced a turnover, taking a steal away from Zablotny and taking it to the other end for a bucket that put the Bucs up, 77-68, at the 6:10 mark. The Bucs turned it into a double-digit lead from there to coast home.
Dominique Williams had 22 points, and Zablotny 17 for the Mocs, who shot 41.5 percent.
Arie Williams had 12 points, and
Elvar Fridriksson finished with 11 assists to break
Deric Hill's school season record set last year. The Bucs shot 53 percent from the floor, but struggled at times from long range. Barrueta was 1 for 8 from beyond the arc. Haas and Williams each hit four triples.
Barry led for all but 14 seconds in the game.
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