Tritons Build Early Lead, Down Saint Leo for Seventh Straight Win

Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Eckerd men's basketball coach Tom Ryan continues to emphasize defense, and his team continues to get closer to reaching his expectations.

A fantastic defensive effort in the first half of today's game against Saint Leo resulted in a sizable halftime lead and, despite a lapse early in the second half, the Tritons rolled to an 83-67 victory over the Lions for their seventh straight win.

"Our defense was really good in the first half.  We took their options away," Ryan said.  "But Saint Leo is not a team that's going to shoot poorly for the entire game, and they showed that in the second half."

In the first 20 minutes, a stifling Eckerd defense held the Lions (4-5, 1-2 SSC) to just 32.9 percent shooting from the floor.  The Tritons, meanwhile, shot 52.8 percent from the field and blistered the nets from behind the arc making 6-of-8.

The result, after a Marco Behori 3-pointer that beat the halftime buzzer, was a 47-23 lead at the break.  The final five minutes of the half were key as Eckerd outscored Saint Leo during the span, 15-6.

That lead, however, quickly diminished after Saint Leo went on a 12-0 run to open the second half.

"When we've gotten a big lead," said Ryan, "we've shown a tendency to relax on defense.  For us to turn the corner and become a good team all the time, we have to have the mentality of always playing defense no matter the score."

Eckerd managed to slow SLU's momentum, getting six straight points from Trevon Young to stay up by double digits.  Soon afterward, a 15-4 run pushed the EC lead back to 25 with 8:45 to play after Kevin Walsh's fifth 3-pointer of the day.

The Tritons (8-2, 3-1 SSC) never trailed after Obi Kyei canned a 3-pointer on EC's opening possession and led by double digits from the 10:47 mark of the first half until the final horn.  But even with that and the team's seven-game winning streak in mind, Ryan said that his squad can never take an opponent for granted.

"Our league is so good that on any given night, anyone can beat anyone," he said.  "I've told guys there's no one I've seen on film that we can't beat, but there's no one I've seen that can't beat us."

Eckerd got a strong performance inside from Young, who scored 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting while pulling in nine rebounds and handing out a team-high five assists.  Kyei had 16 points while Walsh added 15 while draining 5-of-6 from behind the arc.  Behori and Drushaun McLaurn rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points apiece.

The Tritons head into the holiday break sitting near the top of the conference standings and could share the top spot depending on the outcome of the Barry-Florida Southern game, which had a later start today.