Box Score SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Eckerd men's basketball team was perfect through the first half of conference play, but the Tritons fell victim to the always-challenging Sunshine State Conference schedule in their second matchup against Saint Leo, 87-84, on Wednesday night.
The first half proved troublesome for EC as it was limited to 35.5 percent shooting from the field while converting on just 7 of its 13 free throw attempts. Despite a much-improved 52.9 field goal percentage in the second half, the Tritons were unable to overcome the hot-shooting Lions. Saint Leo (13-7, 6-4 SSC) hit 53.2 percent of its field goals, 9-of-22 3-pointers and 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to secure the upset.
Triton head coach
Tom Ryan credited the Lions' success to their ball movement.
"[We] could not stop them on defense," he said. "They did a great job of sharing the ball and getting it into their scorers' hands at the right time and place."
Eckerd's largest lead of the contest came early, going ahead by five after
Obi Kyei converted a traditional three-point play to make the score 9-4. However, the Lions used a 12-3 run over the next six minutes of play to reverse the pressure.
At the end of the half, the Lions were able to extend their lead to nine points on a 3-point shot by Carter Belling with 13 seconds on the clock, but
Marco Behori quickly responded with a triple of his own to give the Tritons a much-needed momentum boost, cutting the difference to 36-30 entering the break.
Despite the last-second three by Behori, the Tritons (17-3, 8-1 SSC) were not able to capitalize on a shift in momentum until the 14:45 mark when they used a 14-4 run on to reclaim the lead at 52-50 on a
Jerrick Stevenson 3-pointer with 10:52 on the clock. However, SLU used four straight free throws to regain control before a traditional 3-point play by
Ray Darnell provided the Tritons their final lead with 10:03 to go, 55-54.
The Lions extended their lead to 12 points at 73-61 with 5:17 remaining in the game, but
Drushaun McLaurn scored 12 of his game-high 24 points throughout the remainder of the contest as Eckerd made a final push. During that stretch, McLaurn connected on all five of his shots from the field and both free throw attempts. However, foul trouble caught up with EC as Kyei fouled out of the game after an offensive foul with 3:28 on the clock.
Kyei's presence was missed as he finished the game shooting 6-for-11 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line for 19 points while also grabbing seven rebounds. Stevenson finished the game with 12 points and four steals.
Trevon Young, Kyei and McLaurn led Eckerd with seven rebounds each.
The Tritons return to action on Saturday, traveling to Melbourne when they take on the Florida Tech Panthers (11-9, 3-6 SSC). The previous meeting between the two occurred on Dec. 2, 2015, inside the McArthur Center. Eckerd needed overtime to defeat the Panthers, 104-100. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 4:00 PM following the women's contest.
