Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - If there was any doubt as to how the Eckerd men's basketball team would respond to having its 16-game winning streak ended, it was erased in the first few minutes of Saturday's game against Palm Beach Atlantic.
The No. 5/6 Tritons blazed out to a 24-5 lead and never looked back, leading by as many as 30 points before taking a 79-67 win over the Sailfish in the McArthur Center.
The first 20 minutes defined what has made Eckerd (17-2, 8-0 SSC) successful all season long. The Tritons ran their offense to perfection, creating high-percentage shots, and dominated the boards while playing lock-down defense on the other end of the floor. EC held the Sailfish to 22.6 percent shooting in the first half while holding a 33-13 rebounding advantage.
The result was a 45-17 lead at halftime, the largest lead at the break for the Tritons since leading Puerto Rico-Bayamon 47-13 on November 27.
"I was interested and ready to see how we responded [to Wednesday's loss]," said EC head coach
Tom Ryan. "We weren't as aggressive rebounding on Wednesday and that's something we talked about changing. I was really happy with how we played in the first half."
As things turned out, it was good that the Tritons built that large cushion as PBA went on a late run that made the score look closer than it actually was.
Eckerd still led by 27 with 9:16 left and by 21 with 5:46 left before the Sailfish (10-6) started to heat up. A pair of 3-pointers and a layup cut the EC lead down to 14 at the 4:10 mark and, after the Tritons went back ahead by 19 with 2:00 to play, PBA made four of its final five shots to cut the final deficit to 12.
The Tritons weren't as sharp in the second half on the whole, attributable in part to a soft full-court press that PBA put into play.
"They started the second half with a little pressure and we didn't handle it well right away," Ryan said. "It got in our heads. We needed to be more aggressive attacking their pressure."
Bradley Reibel scored a career-high 15 points in the win while knocking down a trio of 3-pointers, including two during Eckerd's early run.
Trevon Young had 14 points while
Ray Darnell netted a season-high 12 points and
Obi Kyei added 11.
The Tritons also dominated on the boards, out-rebounding the Sailfish 50-29. Eckerd did struggle with turnovers, giving the ball up 21 times to nine for PBA.
Eckerd now prepares for the second half of the conference schedule, visiting Saint Leo on Wednesday for a 7:30 PM tip-off. The Tritons won the first meeting of the season, 80-68, on November 18.
