ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd men's basketball team can win sole possession of the Sunshine State Conference regular season championship today as the Tritons pay a visit to Barry Unviersity for a 4:00 PM tip-off.
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ABOUT THE BUCS: Today will be a big game for Barry, who could earn a share of the SSC regular season title with a win and clinch the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament. Barry boasts the conference's top-scoring offense by a wide margin, averaging 94.1 points per game and is coming off a 112-point performance on Wednesday. Yunio Barrueta is the SSC scoring leader, averaging 24.9 points per game.
LAST TIME THEY MET: Eckerd used second-half runs of 15-5 and 14-5 to pull away in the second half for a 90-74 win over Barry in the McArthur Center on January 16.Â
Jerrick Stevenson scored 25 points to lead all scorers as EC shot 49.2 percent from the floor and 47.4 percent from 3-point range.
WHAT'S AT STAKE: Quite simply, the conference championship. Eckerd already has a share of it, but with a win today, the Tritons will win it outright for the first time since 1995. It won't be easy against a very good Barry squad, which will be looking for a share of the title and the top overall seed in the conference tournament as the Bucs hold the tiebreaker over Eckerd.
KEY MATCHUP: It will be offense versus defense again as the SSC's top offense (Barry) and top defense (Eckerd) meet for the second time. In the first meeting, it was Eckerd's defense that made the difference - including the defense of
Obi Kyei, who locked down Barrueta. The Tritons also dominated the boards in that game, out-rebounding Barry by 19, and a similar rebounding effort today would bode well for EC's chances.
