Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Senior Night was made even sweeter for the Eckerd men's basketball team as the Tritons defeated the Florida Southern Moccasins, 84-72, and clinched a share of the school's second Sunshine State Conference regular season championship.
For the six graduating seniors -
E.J. Moody,
Kendall Roberts,
Jerrick Stevenson,
Brian Cobb,
Bradley Reibel, and
Ray Darnell - and their teammates, the SSC championship was a goal set at the beginning of the season after finishing in eighth place last year. The championship is the second in school history as the only other regular season title came in the 1994-95 season. The accomplishment was finalized by defeating the Moccasins (10-17, 5-10 SSC) who entered the season after winning the national championship last year, the SSC regular season for the last three years and the SSC tournament for the last four years.
"We had a tough year last year with a lot of close losses and a team growing up, and one of the goals they set this year was to win the league," said EC head coach
Tom Ryan. "They also wanted to be number one in the [South] Region, which is still attainable, but we still need to win and get some help."
Darnell was the first member to join the Eckerd (22-5, 12-3 SSC) roster during the 2011-12 season and spent his first season as a redshirt. The next year, he was joined by Roberts, Stevenson, and Moody as all were members of the Tritons' most recent national tournament team.
Ryan praised the seniors for putting themselves back into position for a chance to return to the tournament.
"Four years fly by and they've been working their tails off. You have the vocal leader in E.J., Kendall brings unbelievable energy and played great defense tonight, Jerrick has consistently been one of our leading scorers, and Ray has always been a physical presence," he said.
Cobb transferred into Eckerd his sophomore year for the 2013-14 season while Reibel joined last season to provide the Tritons with even more options off the bench.
EC struck first on the night after Tyler Ross corralled a long offensive rebound on the Mocs' first field goal attempt but was soon stripped by Stevenson who took the ball the length of the court for a two-handed slam dunk. FSC quickly transitioned and Ross shook off the turnover by hitting a 3-pointer to give the Mocs their only lead, 3-2, 59 seconds into the contest. The Tritons quickly took control of the game and extended their lead to as many as 11 points in the first half before entering halftime with a 36-30 lead.
Coming out of the break, the Mocs and Tritons traded baskets on each team's first three possessions, but
Kevin Walsh broke the streak by getting on the floor to force a jump ball to give EC possession. FSC would not get within five points again until the 8:17 mark as Dylan Travis successfully converted a rare 4-point play. However, that was as close as it would get as Eckerd went on to lead by double-digits most of the way forward.
The last time FSC got the deficit under 10 points was with 1:43 remaining as Dominique Williams hit a 3-point jump shot in transition made the score 76-67, and FSC's head coach Michael Donnelly took a timeout to set up a full-court press. Ryan's press break countered successfully as
Trevon Young was the only player beyond half court for either team. Moody launched a full court pass from out of bounds and Young took advantage with an exclamatory dunk.
EC went on to hit all six free throws from that point forward to seal the game and finished the game shooting 17-21 from the line despite missing its first three attempts.
FSC made it difficult for the Tritons to score inside with 6-10 freshman center Jarel Spellman, who leads the SSC with 3.2 blocked shots per game. Spellman blocked six shots in the contest and altered countless others, but EC never backed away from him on the inside. Darnell and Young drew most of Spellman's attention but were able to use physical strength to counter his length to finish with a combined 28 points in the post.
"He's a great shot-blocker and will block your shots if you go at him or try to avoid him, so we wanted to draw contact to limit his jumping and reach," Ryan said.
Eckerd showed off its scoring versatility once again by having five players reach double figures. Young led the way with 16 points while
Obi Kyei and Walsh followed with 13. Darnell added 12 points and Stevenson rounded out the double figures with 10. Kyei also recorded a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Eckerd's next contest is on Saturday, the final game of the regular season with a lot on the line.
The Tritons travel to Miami Shores to take Barry with a 4:00 PM scheduled tipoff. The Buccaneers are a full game behind Eckerd in the conference standings while both teams are also vying for the number one seed in the South Region. If the Tritons win, they will be crowned the outright SSC champion and earn the top seed in the SSC Tournament. However, if Barry is victorious it will create a three-way tie with Rollins and a tiebreaker will be used to determine the top three seeds.
Alabama-Huntsville remained the top ranked team in the South Region despite a 92-84 loss at Union (Tenn.) on Saturday. Eckerd took the No. 2 spot once again while Barry came in at No. 4.
