Box Score HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Eckerd men's basketball team entered the NCAA South Region Tournament as one of the best teams at defending the 3-pointer in all of Division II.
On Saturday, however, Union (Tenn.) University managed to find an answer to what has troubled Eckerd's opponents all season, knocking down 13 3's on the way to an 88-85 overtime upset over the second-seeded Tritons in tournament's first round.
The loss brought a close to what has been one of the best seasons in Eckerd basketball history. The Tritons finished the season with a 25-7 record, tying the mark for the second-most wins in a season, and laid claim to both the Sunshine State Conference Regular Season and Tournament championships.
Unfortunately, the season ended a few wins short of the ultimate goal.
"This was one of our better seasons ever. It was history-making," said 20th year EC head coach
Tom Ryan. "It doesn't change the fact that we ended the season earlier that we wanted. I'm proud of the guys and where they came from last year."
Jerrick Stevenson's tough on-ball defense helped force overtime as he partially blocked a Jordan Montgomery jumper as time expired in regulation. However, the Bulldogs (21-10) scored the first six points of overtime on two 3-pointers, and the Tritons were not able to recover.
"You have to give [Union] credit," Ryan said. "They made some big plays down the stretch of regulation and overtime."
In a reversal of Eckerd's last two games, where the team's opponents had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer on the final possession, the Tritons found themselves needing a 3 - and needing to get one going the length of the court in 4.9 seconds.
Union, like Eckerd did during the SSC Tournament, defended it well forcing
Obi Kyei to take the shot on the run. The attempt wasn't close, grazing the front of the rim.
Eckerd battled back from a slow start as Union opened the game on a 12-1 run, briefly taking the lead before trailing the Bulldogs at the half, 31-29.
E.J. Moody then took over as the second half begun, scoring 12 points in under four minutes and spurring the Tritons on to take a 54-46 lead with 12:20 to play.
But Union wouldn't go away, and seemed to come up with a basket whenever Eckerd needed a stop.
After a
Marco Behori 3-pointer put the Tritons ahead by eight, UU's Roy Bullock answered with a traditional 3-point play. EC then missed twice at near point-blank range, while Union followed with two free throws and a Brennan Bowling 3-pointer to tie the game.
A pair of 3's from
Kevin Walsh helped Eckerd retake the lead at 62-57 with 9:23 left, but the Bulldogs stayed close and tied things up three minutes later. The lead changed hands three more times in regulation along with three ties, the last one coming after a jumper by Moody with 16 seconds left.
The Tritons kept Union from getting a good look to win it in regulation, but the Bulldogs got two good looks from behind the arc early in overtime and used those two shots to pull off the upset.
The loss marked the end of the careers of Eckerd's six seniors: Stevenson, Moody,
Ray Darnell,
Bradley Reibel,
Brian Cobb and
Kendall Roberts. Moody went out in style with a game-high 24 points.
Ryan believes that the leadership his senior class displayed this season will carry over to future teams.
"There's the legacy of records, but the other thing they did that doesn't go in stat sheet is how they set their minds to being great and how they accomplished it," he said. "All six of those guys were important. What they did in the way of building the team and the leadership they displayed made us who were are."
Drushaun McLaurn added 15 points for Eckerd while Kyei had 14.
The trip to the NCAA National Tournament was the 11th all-time for Eckerd and the ninth under head coach
Tom Ryan.
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