Young's Layup Seals Nail-Biting Win over Sharks

Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - If the first half of the Sunshine State Conference schedule is a harbinger of what is to come in the second half, the Eckerd men's basketball team is in for a wild five weeks.

The Tritons (13-4, 6-3 SSC) sweated out a 68-66 win over Nova Southeastern in the McArthur Center on Wednesday night, hitting the midway point of SSC play in a tie for second place.

"It's going to be an interesting second half of the conference schedule to say the least," said EC head coach Tom Ryan.  "We are going to have to continue to improve and find ways to win games like we did tonight."

Despite the fact that the Sharks (5-11, 2-7 SSC) came into the game in the bottom third of the conference standings, they hung with Eckerd step-for-step until the final possessions of the night.

"We made plays when we had to," Ryan said, "but we have to find ways to be consistent throughout 40 minutes. We did get a couple of big stops in the final two minutes."

Of the plays Ryan referenced, the two that came in the final five seconds were the most important.

After two free throws by NSU's Nikita Orap tied the game at 66-66 with 19 seconds left, the Tritons had the opportunity to play for the final shot.  Marco Behori fed the ball to Trevon Young in the high post, and Young delivered with an acrobatic finish to a drive down the right side of the lane with three seconds to go.

Out of timeouts, the Sharks quickly pushed the ball down the floor but Obi Kyei stepped in front of a B.J. Edwards pass to seal the win.

It was an exciting finish to an equally exciting game that saw nine ties and nine lead changes.  Neither team led by double digits aside from an early 11-point Eckerd lead which quickly vanished.

Playing without leading scorer Harrison Goodrick, NSU relied instead on Gerard Tarin who had a clutch performance with 25 points and 10 rebounds.  But Tarin also missed twice from close range late in the game, creating a vital stop for Eckerd.

"Nova played great," said Ryan. "Tarin was a big factor and their energy and hustle really set the tone.  We need to make sure our energy level is higher to be able to match what teams like Nova bring to the floor."

Eckerd started quickly, using an early 11-3 run to take a 23-12 lead with 8:40 to play in the first half.  But NSU did not allow the Tritons to add to the margin, answering with a 15-5 run to pull within one point at the 4:30 mark.  The Sharks stayed close for the rest of half, trailing 34-32 at the break, and took the lead after scoring the first five points of the second half.

Neither team held more than a two-possession lead for the rest of the game.

The Tritons had an uncharacteristically poor night from the floor, shooting a season-low 38.6 percent. 

"We had stretches that were really good defensively," Ryan said, "but we had a lot of shots that we normally make that didn't go in tonight."

Kevin Walsh was not among those who missed his shots,, leading the team with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.  Young added 13, aided by a 7-for-7 performance from the line.  Kyei snagged a game-high 13 rebounds as EC held a 42-30 advantage on the glass.

Eckerd enters the second half of conference play in a tie for second with Tampa, both one game behind Barry and one game ahead of Lynn and Florida Southern.  The Tritons travel to face Lynn on Saturday at 4:00 PM looking to complete the season sweep.