Box Score LIVINGSTON, Ala. - The Eckerd College men's basketball team got off to a slow start in its season-opener against No. 11 Delta State (Miss.) on Friday, and never could quite recover as the Statesman handed the Tritons an 87-77 loss at the GSC-SIAC-SSC Challenge at the University of West Alabama.
Delta State, which began the season ranked 11th in the D2Bulletin.com rankings, opened the game on an 18-5 run as it took some time for Eckerd to get into a rhythm on offense. The Tritons made only two of their first nine shots and turned the ball over six times in the first nine minutes. Meanwhile, the Statesmen took advantage rolling off nine unanswered points to close out the run before a pair of
Kevin Walsh free throws broke the drought.
Eckerd, though, began to fight back after DSU took its largest lead of the half at 14 points with 9:23 on the clock. Walsh answered a Devin Schmidt 3-pointer and triggered a 14-2 run that pulled EC back within two after a jumper by
Trevon Young at the 4:11 mark.
However, the Statesmen didn't allow Eckerd to get any closer after the Tritons missed a 3-pointer with a chance to tie the game late in the half. DSU pushed back up by nine before taking a 38-31 lead into halftime.
Delta State slowly added to its lead in the second half, going ahead by as many as 18 points before the Tritons made a final push late in the game to pull back within nine points with 38 seconds left.
Walsh led Eckerd with 20 points, matching his career-high mark recorded in the final game of last season.
Jerrick Stevenson added 15 points while
Drushaun McLaurn scored 10 points in his first college game. Stevenson also had a team-high six rebounds and five assists.
The Tritons take the floor again tomorrow taking on the University of West Alabama, the host of the challenge, at 2:00 PM CST.
