Box Score CLEVELAND, Miss. – 35 combined points from the inside duo of Mike Washington and Willie Readus were not enough as the Delta State men's basketball team fell 89-66 to No. 9 Florida Southern College inside Walter-Sillers Coliseum on Saturday, Nov. 9.
 
Washington knocked down 5-of-11 from the floor and 8-of-8 from the free throw line for 17 points and Readus posted 17 points on 7-of 15 shooting, both gathered six rebounds a piece.
 
Florida Southern (1-0) kick-started the game and forced Delta State (0-1) into a transition type of game to take a 5-0 lead. The Statesmen rebounded quickly reeling off a 9-0 run to take a 9-5 lead with 16:24 on the clock.
 
Junior Kevin Capers cranked up the pressure for FSC after freshman Devin Schmidt put DSU on top 25-24 at the 7:45 mark. Capers and company forced the Statesmen to turn the ball over with its full-court pressure and Capers capitalized each time scoring 10-straight points for the Mocs to go ahead 35-26 with 5:25 remaining.
 
Delta State used Florida Southern's own strength against them in the first half of play. The Green-and-White forced the Mocs into foul situations and capitalized at the charity-stripe shooting 15-of-20 (.750) and closing out the first half on a 7-4 run closing the lead down to 46-37.
 
DSU closed out the half shooting 10-of-25 (.400) from the floor while FSC connected on 20-of-35 (.571) and 4-of-11 (.364) from behind the arc.
 
The Statesmen opened up the second half of play with a Mike Washington layup but Tyler Kelly and the Mocs reeled off a 12-4. Kelly knocked down three three-pointers to give FSC a 58-43 lead at the 16:27 mark.
 
Florida Southern kept up the pressure it ended with in the first half and continued to build on its lead with a 14-3 run that extended the margin to 72-48 all the way to the 10:38 mark and never relinquished the lead.
 
DSU finished the night 17-of-49 (.347) from the floor and 30-of-38 (.789) from the charity stripe as FSC clipped out 36-of-55 from the floor and 9-of-23 (.391) from behind the arc.
 
Capers led the way for the Mocs with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting, followed by Dominic Lane who posted 15 points on the night.
 
Jack Madgen posted nine points while Devin Schmidt tallied eight points and four rebounds.
 
Delta State returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 10, to take on Eckerd College on day two of the Delta Challenge Tournament. Tip is slated for 4 p.m.