Box Score
WINTER PARK, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's basketball team edged out rival Rollins College, 66-59, in a key Sunshine State Conference game at Warden Arena in the Alfond Sports Center
on Saturday night.
Eckerd (9-5, 2-1 SSC) is now 1-1 on the week after dropping a game to No. 4 Florida Southern College
on Wednesday. Rollins (7-6, 2-2 SSC) also split in conference play on the week, picking up a win on the road at Florida Tech.
Both the University of Tampa and Barry University took losses
Saturday, moving the Tritons into second place in the Sunshine State Conference standings.
After Rollins scored the first point of the game on a free throw from junior Jeff Dirkin, Eckerd scored 10 unanswered points to jump out to a 10-1 lead.
Just minutes later, the Tritons went on another 6-0 run to lead 16-7 with just
6:20 remaining in the first half.
"They're so big defensively," EC head coach
Tom Ryan said. "Getting an early lead gave us the confidence [through the rest of the game] to attack their zone, and we played good on defense."
At the half, Eckerd led by seven and was aided by 10 points from sophomore
Jerrick Stevenson. Stevenson led the Tritons' offense with a season-high 20 points for the second game running.
Sophomore
E.J. Moody opened up the second half with a trey to give the Tritons a double-digit lead, 30-20, and spur a 13-point run. Moody hit four shots from behind the arc and is shooting a team-best .439 from three-point range on the season.
Over the next seven minutes, Eckerd committed six turnovers, resulting in a 16-3 run for Rollins as it cut the Tritons' lead to four.
Senior Mitch Woods accounted for eight of the Tars' 16 points in the run. Woods led the Tars in scoring with 17 points.
With just 35 seconds remaining in the game, a key turnover gave Rollins possession as it trailed, 63-59. However, the Tars were unable to capitalize on the mistake and Eckerd would hold on for the win with made free throws down the stretch.
Eckerd took advantage of 28 personal fouls to bank 22 of 37 tries from the free-throw line. Senior
Alex Bodney -- the team's leading free-throw shooter -- sank seven from the line.
Bodney added 13 total points in the win.
Eckerd will take on the University of Tampa at home
next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. EST inside the McArthur Center.
Live stats and video will be available on
www.EckerdTritons.com.
