Tritons Edge Colorado Christian to Close Thanksgiving Classic

Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - For the Eckerd men's basketball team, having games come down to the last shot has become somewhat of a norm this season.

For the fourth time in seven contests, the outcome waited until the final second to be known as Eckerd forced a tough shot and held on for an 83-82 victory over Colorado Christian in the finale of the EC Thanksgiving Classic.

The Tritons (5-2) are 2-2 in those four games, twice missing on last-second chances and twice effectively defending opponents' last-second chances.

"You need to experience these situations to get better," said EC head coach Tom Ryan, "but I was more concerned with the fact that we are getting to that point.  We didn't make plays earlier that would have kept it from getting to that situation.  We have to be able to finish the plays late."

In the waning moments, Eckerd got a clutch 3-pointer from Keshawn Ingram as he connected from the right corner with 20 seconds left to give Eckerd an 83-79 lead.

That basket turned out to be huge for the Tritons after CCU answered with a 3-pointer with four seconds to play.  Eckerd forced a miss on the Cougars' first shot but the rebound was tipped and found its way into the hands of Dimitri Saliba, who drained a fallaway shot from 23 feet to cut EC's lead down to one.

Eckerd then threw away the inbounds pass after a miscommunication, giving Colorado Christian possession and a chance to win.

The Tritons, however, defended CCU's last-second effort well, forcing Saliba into an off-balance jumper that missed the mark and sealed the team's fourth straight win.

The game was tight from start to finish with nine ties and 13 lead changes.  Neither team held a double-digit lead at any point, and Eckerd's largest lead was four points.

Eckerd, especially early, had issues against CCU's zone defense.  The team made some adjustments in the second half, getting the ball into the middle and to the short baseline which in turn created interior chances for Trevon Young and Drushaun McLaurn.  Young took advantage with a career-high 27 points effort while also grabbing 11 rebounds.  The junior went 9-of-12 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line.

"If we get [Trevon] touches, he's usually pretty effective," said Ryan.  "He's hard to stop one-on-one around the basket.  He and Drushaun were a good one-two punch tonight."

Their performances helped compensate for an off-night from the perimeter, as EC made just 6-of-23 from behind the arc.

"We didn't make the 3's I thought we would make," Ryan said.  "If we had made more, it would've loosened up their zone."

The Cougars (3-3) built an eight-point lead early in the second half as Saliba and Ty McGee got to the basket via dribble penetration, opening things up on the perimeter for Brett Brady.  The trio combined for 55 of CCU's points.

Eckerd turned the tide with an 18-6 run over a four-minute span while going 9-of-10 from the free throw line, taking a 64-60 lead with 9:05 to play.  The lead changed hands eight times from that point forward.

EC took the lead for good with 2:26 to play on a pair of McLaurn free throws, but still had to defend until the final second to earn the win.  

McLaurn added 16 points for Eckerd while Blake Morrow chipped in 10 for the Tritons, who shot 53 percent from the floor in the second half and made 13-of-16 from the free throw line.

The Tritons return to the floor on Wednesday, hosting Lynn University at 7:30 PM in the McArthur Center as Sunshine State Conference play resumes.