Lakeland, Fla. (12/19/17) The second game of the Mocs Christmas Classic for the Chargers down in Florida was a successful one. After coming off of a loss Monday night, the Chargers were looking to bounce back from a game in which they were out of from the beginning. The second game came against Florida Southern College. Dominican had dropped back to back games for the first time this season and were looking to get back in the win column before the tournament was over.

Florida Southern jumped out to an early 14-5 lead in the first half and it looked like it was going to be an uphill battle for the Chargers just like the first game. Dominican started to cut into the deficit to get back into the game. Florida Southern answered to extend their lead back to 9 points, but with every small run Florida Southern had, the Chargers answered back to cut the deficit down again. The Chargers ended the first half trailing Florida Southern by a score of 36-32.

The Chargers shot 34.6% from the field in the first half and made 11 of 13 free throws for 84.6% from the stripe. Ian Gardener (Norwalk, Conn.) led the Charger offense with 11 points scored and forced three turnovers. Daraja Rodwell (Baldwin, N.Y.) added 10 points in half along with four rebounds and Michael Richardson (Hackensack, N.J.) came off the bench to score eight points in seven minutes. The Chargers were hoping to have a strong showing in the second half and earn the win.

The Chargers used an 11-2 run to begin the second half to regain the lead for the first time since two minutes into the game. The Chargers continued their strong play out of the break by extending out to a nine-point lead which was their largest lead at the time for the game. Florida Southern scored 10 straight points to get back into the game and take the lead back from the Chargers. The Chargers then answered again and took control of the game with just under five minutes to go. With the score tied at 61-61, the Chargers used a 15-5 run in the last couple minutes to jump out in front for good and also extended to their largest lead of the game of 10 points and eventually closed out the win by a final of 81-76.

The Chargers improved to 8-3 (3-1 CACC) with the win and Florida Southern dropped to 7-5 overall on the season. Three Chargers finished with 15 points in the win including Rodwell and Richardson. Daniel Grant (Middletown, N.Y.) was the third Charger to score 15 points with all of his points coming in the second half after not scoring in the first half. Jonathan Garcia (Springfield, Mass.) had a strong game by recording a double-double scoring 11 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

The Chargers will be off until next Friday December 29^th when they travel to Bentley University for the first of their last two games before the calendar flips to the new year.