Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – With 6.6 seconds left on the game clock, Chris Carter banked in a circus shot on his way to the rim to set up a three-point play as Florida Tech erased a sizable second-half deficit to down the Eckerd College men's basketball program on Saturday afternoon, 70-69.
Carter's progress to the basket was impeded by the EC defense, but with multiple bodies crashing to the floor upon impact, the blocking foul was whistled.
Coming into the game as the leading scorer in the Sunshine State Conference, Carter sank the go-ahead free throw as EC's final flurry of shot attempts didn't fall before the final buzzer, including a tip-in try off glass.
The Panthers (10-10, 3-7 SSC) avoided the regular-season sweep and completed an improbable rally down 16 with 13:14 left in regulation.
Florida Tech assembled a 28-14 to cut the EC lead down to two with just under three minutes to play.
Following a three in the corner in front of his bench by FIT's Terrance Tubbs that put the visitors up by one, junior guard
Alex Bodney raced up the floor and banked in a fall-away jumper off glass while drawing contact to restore the EC lead.
FIT resorted to fouling down two with under a minute to play and sent one of the deadliest shooters in the program's history to the stripe in Bodney.
Bodney hit both tries at the stripe for a four-point cushion, but the Tritons committed back-to-back turnovers at inopportune moments to keep FIT's hopes alive.
Carter finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and six steals. The nation's top thief in the steals category, Julius Reid, collected four more to maintain his season average.
Jermaine Jackson collected 20 points and Tubbs added 11 as the Panthers overcame 36 percent shooting woes.
By contrast, Eckerd shot at a 49 percent clip and registered four players in double figures led by 14 from Bodney.
Senior guard
Woody Taylor scored 11 to go with six assists, sophomore forward
Malcolm Brunner Jr. scored a dozen, pulled in six rebounds and blocked a pair of shots, while senior
Darrien Mack recorded a 12-rebound, 11-point double-double.
The Tritons (13-6, 6-5 SSC) maintained their current position of fourth in the conference standings after the dust settled from the rest of the league's contests.
Out of EC's 23 turnovers, the Panthers were credited with 15 steals off the miscues. Florida Tech converted 27 points off the turnovers compared to nine for EC off of Panthers' mistakes.
The Tritons will look to shake off this afternoon's setback against the University of Tampa next Wednesday in the Martinez Center. EC claimed the previous regular-season meeting against the Spartans, then ranked 20th, by a 73-70 decision.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. or following the completion of the women's contest.
