ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's basketball team collected its first win of the season in front of a raucous crowd in the McArthur Center home opener on Saturday night against American International (Mass.) College, 68-52.
The Tritons (1-2, 0-0 SSC) returned to their home floor after competing at the Down in the Delta Challenge last weekend in Mississippi. The Yellow Jackets (1-3, 0-0 NE-10) were victimized by Sunshine State Conference member University of Tampa on Friday before tonight's game.
"The crowd energized us for sure tonight," said EC Head Coach
Tom Ryan. "Josh (Snodgrass) had a good game and it was one of most complete efforts in his career. I hope he can find his groove for us this year."
"Each time when we made our runs, it was because our defense was solid and we weren't breaking down and giving up a bucket late," he added. "We have to make teams take tough shots. Offensively, shots were able to fall for us today, especially from three-point range."
The Tritons held a 38-24 lead at the conclusion of the first half with sophomore
Jerrick Stevenson leading the early charge with 10 points -- including two treys -- and nine rebounds.
The explosive swingman scored Eckerd's first five points of the game and opened up the first-half attack with his three-point shot.
Sophomore
E.J. Moody and senior
Alex Bodney nailed consecutive treys to take an 11-7 lead. The Tritons converted seven three-point baskets in regulation.
The ball continued to find its way through the basket for the Tritons as they put together a 5-0 run. Senior Jason Perrier broke the run up for American International at the charity stripe, but the Tritons started to control and dictate the tempo from that point on.
With 46 seconds left in the half, senior
Josh Snodgrass rained in another a three-point shot. He accounted for seven of Eckerd's last 10 points in the first period.
With 12:40 remaining in the game, the Yellow Jackets' Bobby Harris hit a trey to cut the Tritons' lead to nine, but Stevenson answered with a layup to restore a double-digit lead.
A relentless Tritons' offense continued to put points on the board, taking advantage of the double-bonus and enjoyed an 18-point lead -- its largest lead of the night -- when Bodney netted a free-throw with 1:18 left on the clock.
Stevenson posted his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Moody added 13 points, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Snodgrass totaled a team-high 18 points, including a 7-of-8 performance at the free-throw line.
The Tritons head back out on the road on Monday for a highly-anticipated exhibition game against Florida Gulf Coast University at 7:05 p.m. EST from Fort Myers. The game will be streamed live for free with a video/audio broadcast on ASun.TV and NOT on ESPN3 as originally reported.
