KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The seventh-seeded Eckerd College men's basketball team opened up play in the first round of the Sunshine State Conference Championship with a win over No. 4 Barry University, 83-73, on Wednesday afternoon at Silver Spurs Arena.
The Tritons (16-13, 7-9 SSC) will move on to face No. 6 Nova Southeastern University in the second round on Friday at 5 p.m. after the Sharks brought down No. 5 Rollins College in overtime. The winner of that game will take on No. 1 Florida Southern College in a semifinal on Saturday at 12 p.m.
After a 6-0 run midway through the first half, the Buccaneers (19-8, 9-7 SSC) jumped out to an early 16-8 lead, but minutes later, a three-point play from Senior
Josh Snodgrass sparked a 12-0 run that put the Tritons ahead 22-18 with 6:11 left in the half.
Snodgrass tallied 27 points on the day, breaking his previous career-high scoring total of 25 points set earlier in the season in double-overtime against Florida Southern. Snodgrass also mixed in seven rebounds and five assists.
At the conclusion of the half, senior
Alex Bodney hit two from three-point range and Snodgrass added a jumper in between to give Eckerd a comfortable 36-26 halftime lead.
Sophomore
Ray Darnell opened the second half with a jumper to extend the Tritons lead to 12, but Barry followed with a 9-3 run to pull within four, 41-37, with 14:40 on the clock.
At the 8:25 mark, junior Juan Ferrales was fouled and sent to the line in the bonus. Ferrales sank both attempts to cut Eckerd's lead to three, but the Buccaneers would never come closer than three for the remainder of the game.
With Eckerd leading by six, Snodgrass drew an offensive foul on a charge from Ferrales to give the Tritons the ball back. On the opposite end, Darnell was fouled and made both free-throws to increase Eckerd's lead to eight, 59-51.
As the game began to wind down, Barry was forced to foul, but the Tritons were 15-of-18 at the free-throw line in the final 2:30 of the game and shot nearly 78 percent from the line on the game.
Sophomore
Jerrick Stevenson tabbed his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 boards. All of Stevenson's points came in the second half.
Bodney (12) and Moody (14) also added points in double-digits.
Barry's Yunio Barrueta also posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Senior Magne Fivelstad also added a team-high 21 points.
Live stats and video will be available for Friday's contest on SunshineStateConference.com.
