ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's basketball program nearly erased a 31-point first-half deficit against one of the nation's best to close out the St. Petersburg Sports Alliance Classic on Sunday, falling by a 75-85 decision against No. 9 West Liberty (W.V.) University.
Senior
Lance Kearse led all players with 27 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He also hit 10-of-11 attempts from the free-throw line and grabbed five rebounds.
Josh Snodgrass contributed 14 off the bench while
Wayne Sears Jr. and
Walade Wade each ended with 10.
Alex Falk paced the visitors with 18 points and Chris Morrow netted 15 as the pair combined to shoot 11-of-16 from the field.
The Hilltoppers (9-1, 5-0 WVIACC) led from start to finish, blazing out of the gates with a 16-0 run against the Tritons (5-3, 1-1 SSC) in the first four minutes of play.
West Liberty came into today's game averaging over 100 points per game, tops in the nation.
An effective full-court press from West Liberty early on resulted in complications for Eckerd getting the ball across the timeline. Even though a 10-second violation was avoided, the Tritons were harassed into five turnovers and missed their first three shots in the game-opening run.
Falk had his fingerprints all over WLU's early charge, assisting the game's first basket, intercepting three passes and netting a pair of baskets.
With the Hilltoppers halfway to the century mark up by 25 coming out of halftime, the Tritons began to chip away at West Liberty in a hurry, beginning the final period on a 9-2 run.
A pair of technical fouls on the Hilltoppers were assessed shortly after and back-to-back buckets from Kearse had EC down by 12 with about 17 minutes to play. A three-point play by Falk upped WLU's advantage to 21, but the Tritons slashed the deficit to single digits off a Sears Jr. layup.
Eckerd then closed the gap to just a three-point deficit with just under five minutes to play, but couldn't take the lead in the late stages.
Falk played most of the second half with four fouls, but came up clutch with a fadeaway three-pointer from the corner off one foot that pushed WLU's lead to six with 1:33 on the clock.
West Liberty made six consecutive free throws to close out the game.
Foul troubles plagued West Liberty throughout the afternoon as Morrow racked up five fouls while C.J. Hester, Falks and Cedric Harris, all finished with four.
Morrow left the game temporarily with an injury to the head while EC starting guard
Alex Bodney was relegated to just 12 minutes on the court after also sustaining an undisclosed injury.
The Tritons will enjoy the Christmas holiday before returning to tournament action on Dec. 29-30 for the Tampa Classic.
