KISSIMMEE, Fla. –The No. 7 seeded Eckerd College men's basketball team is just one win away from advancing to the Sunshine State Conference Championship final after defeating No. 6 Nova Southeastern University, 66-52, on Friday night in Silver Spurs Arena.
The Tritons (17-13 overall) will face No. 1 seeded Florida Southern College (24-4 overall) tomorrow at 12 p.m.
The Moccasins went 2-0 against Eckerd during the regular season, picking up their most recent win at the McArthur Center in a 104-103 double-overtime victory on Feb. 12.
"Our defense was obviously the difference," EC head coach
Tom Ryan said. "The first half was pretty good, but the second half was extremely good. That's kind of been our staple during the year. The games when we can defend people and get them to take difficult shots, they make some, but they'll miss a higher percentage and that kind of fueled our offense."
Turnovers weighed down the Tritons through the beginning of the first half which resulted in eight points for the Sharks and an early lead.
With 5:21 remaining in the first half, junior Justin Jeangerard hit a three-pointer to extend Nova Southeastern's lead to 10, 28-18.
In the final three minutes of the half, two three-pointers from sophomore
E.J. Moody, one trey from freshman
Matt Beneduci and a dunk from sophomore
Jerrick Stevenson put the Tritons on an 11-0 run and sent them into the second half with a 35-33 edge.
Eckerd continued its offensive campaign into the second half on a 10-2 run to make it a 21-2 overall run over more than six minutes. A jumper from junior
Malcolm Brunner Jr. completed the final basket in the run to give the Tritons a 10-point lead, 45-35, with 15:41 left on the clock.
Nova Southeastern was able to cut Eckerd's lead down to seven, 50-43, after scoring four unanswered points, but Eckerd would build its lead back up to as much as 16 before the final buzzer.
The Tritons dished out a season-high 11 three-pointers on the night, with Moody and senior
Alex Bodney each tallying four apiece.
Entering the game, Nova Southeastern led the SSC from behind the arc (.388), but Eckerd held the Sharks to just under 23 percent from long range on the night.
Moody led the Tritons' offense with 18 points (16 by halftime), nine rebounds and four assists, while Brunner Jr. added 17 points and eight rebounds. Bodney also scored in double figures with 12 points and added five assists.
NSU's Brian Cahill added a team-high 15 points for the Sharks and accounted for four of eight three-pointers.
Live stats and video will be available for tomorrow afternoon's game on SunshineStateConference.com.
