Box Score
CLEVELAND, Miss. – Sophomores
Jerrick Stevenson and
E.J. Moody each scored a dozen points to spear the Eckerd College men's basketball program's season-opening effort in a loss against the University of Arkansas-Monticello to begin the Down in the Delta Challenge on Saturday, 70-63.
Senior guard
Alex Bodney added 11 points and six rebounds, junior big man
Malcolm Brunner Jr. added nine points and senior
Josh Snodgrass contributed all of his nine points in the first half.
Stevenson pulled down a team-best seven rebounds as EC held a plus-one margin on the glass.
Eckerd primed for today's game with the annual alumni game and a scrimmage against Daytona Beach-located Embry-Riddle University. The Tritons departed on Thursday to begin the 16-hour journey that featured an overnight stop in Mobile, Ala., a practice on Friday and a shootaround this morning in Sillers Coliseum.
UAM, picked to finish fourth in the Great American Conference following a 16-11 record last year, had exhibition games against Div. I schools Louisiana Tech and Arkansas State University.
The Eckerd program's 2013-14 debut marked a new era for the Tritons without graduated seniors
Woody Taylor,
Darrien Mack,
Walade Wade and
Sammy O'Garro, with institutional icon
Tom Ryan back for his 18th year on the sidelines.
Ryan also elevated
Kendrick Wilson to a position of Associate Head Coach in the offseason while adding
Jon Cabino as a first-year assistant.
"I thought we made some nice adjustments in the second half, but we did a poor job adjusting to the new officiating," Ryan said afterwards. "There were a couple of possessions where our defense let us down and offensively, we needed to make quicker decisions."
"We said we wanted more ball movement at halftime," he added. "When we moved the ball around a little bit (to begin the second half), I thought we made them play defense a little more."
On Saturday, foul trouble became a factor down the stretch for the Tritons (0-1, 0-0 SSC) with Bodney and Brunner Jr. collecting their fifth fouls down the stretch as the Boll Weevils (1-0, 0-0 GAC) enjoyed a double-bonus situation at the line with seven minutes left in regulation.
A pair of noteworthy second-half trifectas dialed up from long distance by Moody gave the Tritons their first lead since the 7:02 mark in the first half and provided a five-point lead with 6:16 left in regulation.
But Arkansas-Monticello countered and dropped in the go-ahead basket on a jumper by Dayton Mickens with just under five minutes to play. Mickens was 9-of-11 from the field on his way to a game-high 20 points.
A three-point play by Stevenson kept it a one-possession game with 33 seconds left on the clock before UAM put it away at the charity stripe by making three of their last four free throws.
EC opened the second half on a 23-12 run to overcome sluggish shooting in the first half that included an 11-point deficit and an 8-of-23 line on all field goal attempts.
The Tritons will square off against Down in the Delta host Delta State University tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. EST before returning home. At the time of release, Delta State was playing No. 9 Florida Southern College as part of tournament action.
