Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's basketball program laid it all on the line and accelerated into another gear against Florida Southern College on Wednesday night, prevailing in a high-scoring overtime affair, 98-90.
The Tritons (16-5, 9-3 SSC) extended their current win streak to five and maintained their hold of first place in the Sunshine State Conference standings, moving ahead a full game against Rollins College and one-and-half games ahead of Florida Tech.
EC outscored the Mocs (13-8, 6-6 SSC), 18-10, in the extra session, showing no signs of fatigue while Florida Southern labored with foul troubles. A total of five FSC players fouled out.
Eckerd is now winners of eight of its last nine and Head Coach
Tom Ryan has his squad as arguably the most dangerous draw in the SSC Tournament as the regular season winds down to a close.
“We did well at the foul line tonight and I'm happy we had just nine turnovers (vs. 21 assists),” Ryan said. “Florida Southern's guards are unbelievable and Brett (Bailey) is a crafty player in the post. We had to really catch up to slow them down.”
“Our defense needs to step up like it did in the final two minutes of overtime tonight,” he added. “We need to think defense first and realize the importance of pressure to force our opponents into tough shots.”
The Tritons made themselves comfortable at the free-throw line tonight, shooting 41 times from the charity stripe. Kearse was perfect at the free-throw line (12-for-12), while junior
Darrien Mack went 7-for-8.
Kearse was a force in the overtime period, hitting two key three-pointers -- one to draw even and one to extend the lead to five points with 2:30 left. He played through visible pain with lingering effects from an injury suffered against Rollins and after sitting out of practice on Monday and Tuesday, was questionable until 3 p.m. this afternoon.
Mack led the Tritons with a double-double including 18 points and 11 rebounds. He was clutch at the end of the second half as he drove and double-clutched in the lane to get the tying basket with 11 seconds left in regulation to make things all square, 80-80.
“In games like this, you just have to be aggressive,” he said. “I'll do whatever the team needs to be whether it means being the sixth man or the eighth man.”
Mack had a fast-break dunk from junior
Woody Taylor to extend the lead to seven with just over two minutes to play. The Tritons iced the game down the stretch, hitting six free-throws to hold off the visitor's comeback hopes.
Five Tritons hit double-figures in the scoring column tonight (
Alex Bodney - 19,
Walade Wade - 11,
Wayne Sears Jr. - 14) while Taylor and Bodney combined for 13 assists and more importantly, zero turnovers.
The Tritons are back home on Saturday to host Palm Beach Atlantic University in a non-conference matchup. Tip-off is scheduled around 4 p.m. or after the women's contest.
