Stifling Defense Sets Tone as Tritons Sweep Lynn

Box Score BOCA RATON, Fla. - Longtime Eckerd men's basketball coach Tom Ryan has been known to preach defense first.

The outcome of Saturday's game demonstrated that the Tritons continued to heed his advice.

Eckerd held Lynn to a season-low scoring output for the second time this season, building an early lead and cruising to a 70-54 win to open the second half of the Sunshine State Conference schedule while completing a regular-season sweep of the Fighting Knights.

"We hadn't been as aggressive as we wanted to be [in our last two games]," said Ryan.  "From the beginning today, we were in passing lanes and in gaps on drives.  If we are there defensively from the start of the game, we're going to give ourselves a chance.  It felt good to play that way after not having the energy we wanted in the last two games."

The Knights (10-7, 5-5 SSC) struggled to get much going against a stifling Triton defense, especially inside the arc.  Lynn made only one 2-point shot in the first half, going 1-of-16 from 20 feet and in.  A 6-of-10 performance from 3-point range helped the Knights keep the game from getting out of hand before the teams went to the locker rooms for halftime.

Eckerd (14-4, 7-3 SSC) opened the game on an 8-0 run, then went on a 16-4 run to take a 26-13 lead with 6:51 left in the first half.  3-pointers by LU's Allen Baez and Terrell Rogers broke the drought, but Kevin Walsh canned a 3-pointer and Travis Bianco split two defenders for an acrobatic layup to give EC a 36-22 lead at the half.

The Tritons opened up an 18-point lead early in the second half but Lynn again managed to hang around on the strength of long-range shooting to pull within 13 points on three occasions, the last time coming with 7:45 to play.

Eckerd followed with a quick 8-0 run, capped by a tradition 3-point play by Obi Kyei and a Matt Beneduci 3-pointer from the left wing, serving as the final blow to Lynn's chances.

In addition to a defensive effort that saw EC hold the Knights to just 30 percent shooting, Ryan was pleased with his team's offensive execution that led to 48.1 percent shooting from the floor and 45 percent from behind the arc.

"We moved the ball very well," he said, "and did a good job of making them chase us."

Walsh led a balanced scoring attack with 14 points, knocking down four 3-pointers.  His final triple gave him 200 in his career at Eckerd and made him just the second player in program history to reach the milestone.

Kyei added 11 points while Drushaun McLaurn and Trevon Young each had 10 points.  Kyei, McLaurn and Young all led the team's effort on the glass with eight rebounds apiece as EC out-rebounded Lynn by a plus-11 margin.

The win keeps Eckerd a game behind Barry University for first place in the SSC.  The Tritons return to the floor on Wednesday, hosting SSC provisional member Embry-Riddle at 7:30 PM.