Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - While most basketball fans generally look at a team's shooting percentages, Eckerd men's head coach
Tom Ryan is more interested in a different type of percentage.
Following his team's 70-46 win over visiting Miles (Ala.) College on Wednesday night, Ryan talked about the importance of being in the right position as often as possible.
"We're not going to stop someone every play," he said, "but if we can be in good position 90 percent of the time, we are going to have good success."
The Tritons certainly seemed to be in good position for the majority of the night, at least on the defensive end, as they completely shut down one of the highest-scoring offenses in NCAA Division II.
The Golden Bears came into the contest averaging 89.0 points per game, having scored 90 or more five times. Eckerd held them to almost half of that average.
"We were trying to take away their dribble penetration," Ryan said. "They did have some pretty good looks early that they didn't knock down, and that snowballed. We did a good job of not letting the ball get into the low post. Ray and Trevon in particular did a very good job of limiting their touches."
The Tritons showed no signs of resting on their first national ranking since 2013 after coming in at No. 21 in the NABC Coaches Poll and at No. 12 in the D2SIDA Media Poll earlier this week.
"Our guys knew this was a good regional team," said Ryan. "They realized the importance of the game. Defense is what we have been preaching the whole year, and we stepped up defensively."
Offensively, the game was a struggle on both ends for much of the night.
Eckerd (10-1) jumped out to an early 11-2 lead and never trailed despite suffering a handful of scoring droughts, including one that spanned nearly the last six minutes of the first half. After
E.J. Moody completed a traditional 3-point play at the 5:52 mark to give EC a 25-13 lead, the Tritons wouldn't score again until two
Jerrick Stevenson free throws with 17 seconds left until halftime.
Fortunately, Eckerd maintained the lead thanks to defense as the Tritons allowed only four points during the same span and held Miles scoreless over the last 4:15 of the half.
Miles quickly cut the deficit to four early in the second half after six straight points, but EC answered with a 10-0 run and led by double-digits for the remainder of the game. Eckerd limited the Golden Bears to 25.8 percent from the floor and 21.1 percent from 3-point range and forced them into 21 turnovers.
Trevon Young posted his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Moody added 10 points as the only other Triton to reach double-figures.
Obi Kyei joined Young in double-digits in rebounds, also grabbing 10 while blocking four shots.
Eckerd's 10th straight win matches the longest winning streak since the 2010-11 season when the team also won 10 in a row. One more win would tie the program's all-time winning streak mark of 11, set in the 1972-73 season.
The Tritons return to action on Saturday, hosting Eastern New Mexico at 2:00 PM as part of the Tampa Classic. The game was originally scheduled to be played at the University of Tampa but was moved to the McArthur Center.
