Box Score
MONTEVALLO, Ala. - In a rematch of the 2007 NCAA Division II South Regional championship game, one in which the Eckerd Tritons took a late lead only to fall on a buzzer-beater by Montevallo, the Falcons (6-0) once again got the better of the Tritons (4-1) in a matchup of a pair of unbeaten squads, outscoring the Tritons 38-31 in the second half to win, 63-56.
Wayne Sears led Eckerd with 13 points.
A three pointer by
Woody Taylor helped the Tritons jump out to a 9-2 lead with 16:03 left in the first stanza but a 13-2 run by the Falcons, capped by a jumper by Freddy Little, gave UM a 15-11 lead less than five minutes later.
A conventional three-point play converted by Sears tied the game at 19-19, in what would be the second of four ties in the half, with 7:28 left to play, en route to a 25-25 tie going into halftime.
In the second half, a jumper by
Chris Gray sparked the Tritons on a 13-2 run, capped by a basket by
Dale Carn, to give the Tritons a 38-27 lead with 15:15 to go. Over the next 10 and a half minutes, however, the Falcon defense stymied Eckerd's offense to the tune of just 12 points over that time span while UM poured in 23 points in that time frame to tie the game at 50-50 with 4:42 to go.
After Cecil Coleman made a free throw to make it 51-50, Montevallo continued to attack the basket, making two layups and making four trips to the charity stripe while keeping the Tritons' offense on ice as it could only muster six points down the stretch, three of which came on a trio of free throws by Sears after he was fouled beyond the arc, and another and-one converted by
Zaronn Cann. Both players' free throws put the Tritons within two and one point, respectively, but the Falcons' made all eight free throw attempts down the stretch to keep Eckerd at bay.
For the game, Montevallo shot 42.3 percent from the field while Eckerd shot 40.4 percent. The Tritons went 10-of-13 from the free throw line while the Falcons converted just 61.5 percent (16-of-26) of the their foul shots, but hit the eight biggest free throws of the game. Eckerd also out-rebounded UM 35-32. Perhaps the biggest statistical disparity, however, was UM's 28 points off of 23 Triton turnovers while Eckerd scored just 11 points following 15 Montevallo turnovers.
Cann and
John Harper added nine points each for Eckerd while
Lewis Lampley led the team with nine rebounds. Jonas Brown and Cecil Coleman each led UM with 13 points while Alex Lovell added eight rebounds off the bench to lead the Falcons.
EC will return to the hardwood on Saturday as it conclude's Montevallo's Coca-Cola Classic by battling West Alabama at 6:30pm, Eastern Time.
