Box Score
SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's basketball team dropped a closely-contested conference game to Saint Leo University on Wednesday night at the Bowman Center, 64-57.
Lions' lefty senior guard Jerrel Harris led the way for Saint Leo with a team-high 28 points as he continued to make his bid to become the Sunshine State Conference's leading scorer.
Harris was 4-of-5 from three-point territory and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. He trailed Jermaine Jackson of Florida Tech by 0.2 points per game in the overall scoring race coming into tonight.
The Tritons (9-8, 2-4 SSC) fell behind early on in the first half, 18-4, but a 10-2 run fueled by five points from senior Alex Bodney brought Eckerd to within six.
With just under two minutes remaining, freshman Matt Beneduci hit a free-throw and sophomores Jerrick Stevenson and Ray Darnell hit jumpers to bring the Tritons within three, 22-19.
But a foul on Harris sent him to the line for two shots. He sank both and Saint Leo ended the half ahead by five points, 24-19.
The Tritons continued to pick away at the Lions' lead into the second half, coming within one in the opening moments of the half after back-to-back treys from Bodney and Stevenson.
At the 5:57 mark, Stevenson was fouled on a three-point attempt and sank all three shots to tie the game for the first time on the night at 49-49 apiece.
But Saint Leo (15-4, 3-3 SSC) took advantage of nine free-throw points in bonus in the final minutes to seal the win despite missing a pair of front ends on one-and-one opportunities.
Bodney led the Tritons in scoring with a season-high 18 points as he connected on seven of his 14 tries from the field.
Stevenson also added 14 points to complement nine rebounds while sophomore E.J. Moody hit a pair of treys to finish with eight.
The Tritons are back on the road at Florida Tech later this week on Saturday with a projected 7:30 p.m. start time set at the Titan Coliseum in Melbourne on the campus of Eastern Florida State College.
