Box Score WINTER PARK, Fla. - In a whirlwind of a game, the Eckerd Tritons men's basketball team overcame a 16-point deficit in the second half to upset the previously unbeaten and 11th-ranked Rollins Tars, 67-62, in a Sunshine State Conference matchup.
The way his team fought is what pleased Triton head coach
Tom Ryan the most.
"I'm proud of the guys and how they kept playing. We were down 16 with (14:32) to go and we just went one basket at a time and got a couple of easy buckets," he said. "All of a sudden it was a game again and we made plays down the stretch."
Down four points at the half, the Tritons seemed to have good positioning to become the last team to remain unbeaten in SSC play. However, the Tars (9-1, 2-1 SSC) came out of the break with a 16-4 run for the largest lead of the contest at 46-30 with 14:32 to play. At that point, the game started to take a turn as the Tritons began attacking the rim for higher-percentage shots and more free throw opportunities while Ryan praised his team's defensive effort.
"Our defense is what changed the game," he said. "They score very well, they can all score the ball. They have a couple of great athletes who can get to the rim and then they have guys who can shoot it. They did a nice job of getting it inside and out the whole day."
"But I thought we came up with a couple of turnovers that led to easy buckets and also a couple of good shots. We've preached that if we can play good defense we can be in games."
Defensive certainly helped as the Tritons began to clamp down on an explosive Rollins offense although, for a while, the Tars still managed a few answers. A 7-0 run to cut the deficit to nine with 11:36 to play after a
Trevon Young layup, but a following 3-pointer by Rollins' Sharif Almulla extended the gap back to 12. A
Drushaun McLaurn layup cut it down to eight at the 9:19 mark, but Mike Bedulskis answered with his own two points to temporarily hold the Tritons off a little bit longer.
Then momentum shifted as
E.J. Moody banked in a 3-pointer for Eckerd with 7:54 to play, cutting the deficit to seven before finally pulling ahead at 57-55 with 3:40 to play. Rollins responded with a traditional 3-point play to retake the lead, but the Tritons took it right back after a
Jerrick Stevenson free throw and a McLaurn lay-up. The Tars tied it for the last time with 1:26 left on a pair of free throws, but moments later McLaurn gave EC the lead for good after getting to the line and knocking down both free throws.
On Rollins' next possession, Sharif Almulla missed a go-ahead 3-pointer and
Ray Darnell corralled a key defensive rebound with 42 seconds remaining. The Tritons iced as much time as they could before Walsh missed a 3 at the 17 second mark, but McLaurn pulled down the offensive rebound and quickly was fouled.EC would go on to hit five of its six free throw attempts in the final 11 seconds to seal the victory.
The ability to force contact and draw fouls proved to be in the Tritons' favor as one of the Tars' top players, Jeff Merton, picked up two fouls early in each half. Merton picked up his third foul not long after taking the 16-point lead followed by his fourth at the 12:51 mark and was taken out until 4:54 where he would be locked down by Eckerd's defense.
McLaurn led the second-half surge by scoring 24 of his game high 27 in the final 20 minutes of play including the first nine of the half for Eckerd (9-1, 4-0 SSC). All of his points were scored off of aggressive play by continuously getting to either the rim or free throw line. He shot 9-for-12 from both the field and free throw line in the victory.
Trevon Young followed in scoring with 12 points from the post while
Kevin Walsh hit all three of Eckerd's 3-pointers in the first half on his way to 11 points.
Stevenson, Eckerd's leading scorer, and
E.J. Moody have been two of the Tritons' biggest offensive weapons on the year, but the Tars limited them to just six combined points. EC, however, displayed its depth once again by outscoring the Tars 33-2 off of the bench.
"If you would've told me coming over here that I was going to get six points from those two and that we were going to win I would've said you're crazy," Ryan said. "We got some big plays out of Drushaun, and the low-scoring game helped us because without those two scoring we have to find ways to get points."
Eckerd also continued to dominate the boards by out-rebounding the Tars, 37-26, which lead to a 15-5 second-chance points advantage.
"Against their zone you can rebound if you can get in there, but for a while we were getting one shot and everyone was running back. I thought when we got in there and kept the ball live it gave us some easy opportunities," Ryan said.
The Tritons will return to action on Wednesday, December 16, inside of the McArthur Center as they host the Miles College (4-3, 2-0 SIAC) Golden Bears in non-conference action. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 start.
