Tritons Pull Away from Cowboys for 98-60 Victory

Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd men's basketball team won its third game in a row on Friday on the opening day of the EC Thanksgiving Classic, handily defeating the University of Puerto Rico-Bayamon, 98-60.

Margin of victory aside, there are still areas in which longtime EC head coach Tom Ryan wants to see his team improve - most notably, defensive commitment.

"When we get our team chemistry down defensively and our guys truly buy into playing defense for the entire game," he said, "that's when we will turn the corner."

Offense certainly hasn't been a problem this week as the Tritons (4-2) almost reached the century mark for the second game in a row.  Eckerd shot 51.9 percent from the floor and once again got a big spark off the bench from freshman Blake Morrow, who scored a game-high 23 points and went 12-of-12 from the free throw line.

Early in the game, Eckerd worked the ball inside to exploit its size advantage over a smaller but lightning-quick UPR-Bayamon squad.  Trevon Young, Obi Kyei and Drushaun McLaurn combined for 22 first-half points as the Tritons shot 56 percent from the floor.

The Cowboys countered with an up-tempo, guard-oriented attack and made it work nicely in the first half, shooting 52 percent, and only trailed by four with 6:15 left in the half.

Morrow, though, knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, the second of which led to a 4-point play, kick-starting a 17-6 run that pushed the EC lead to 15.

UPR-Bayamon played step-for-step with Eckerd for the first 11 minutes of the second half before an 11-1 Triton run put the game out of reach.  Eckerd closed the game with 14 unanswered points.

Even with the comfortable win, Ryan wants to see improved discipline on defense.

"We need better commitment to detail," he said. "Players started switching screens [tonight] because it was easier, not because it's what we wanted to do.  The easy way is not going to work.  Our energy level is higher on offense.  It's fun to play offense but defense is what won us games last year."

Four players scored in double-figures for Eckerd with Morrow, Young (13), Travis Bianco (13) and Marco Behori (11) all reaching the mark.  Eckerd was dominant on the boards, out-rebounding the Cowboys, 42-23, and scoring 23 second-chance points.

The Tritons return to the floor in the McArthur Center tomorrow night hosting Colorado Christian at 7:30 PM.