Tritons Breeze Past Nova Southeastern, 72-52

Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - When the Eckerd men's basketball team hosted Nova Southeastern one month ago, the game came down to the final seconds.

In the return contest in Fort Lauderdale, the outcome was in the Tritons' hands well before the end as Eckerd rolled to a 72-52 win over the Sharks on Saturday afternoon.

It marked the second game in a row where the Tritons (18-6, 11-4 SSC) held their opponents well under the 60-point mark.

"We're starting to understand the importance of being consistent defensively," said EC head coach Tom Ryan.  "Harrison Goodrick is tough in the post and I thought that Trevon, Admir and Myron did a good job defending him.  Obi played great defense all week for us.  This was a good team effort defensively."

After a back-and-forth start to the game, Eckerd took the lead for good on a Matt Beneduci 3-pointer with 11:43 to go in the first half.  The Sharks stayed close until the Tritons went on a 13-3 run late in the half, taking a 14-point lead before NSU scored the final five points of the half including a banked-in 3-pointer as time expired.

The Sharks couldn't carry that brief momentum into the second half, however, as Eckerd scored nine unanswered points to double its lead.  NSU never got closer than 16 points of the EC lead for the remainder of the game.

Ryan used his bench liberally in today's game with positive results.  EC's reserves accounted for 38 points with Blake Morrow scoring 13 and Travis Bianco adding 12.

"We had planned on playing our guards more against their zone," Ryan said.  "We had good balance from the players off the bench and it was good to get them extra minutes." 

Drushaun McLaurn had 14 points to lead Eckerd while Obi Kyei pulled in 13 rebounds.

The game was also notable for Kevin Walsh.  Although the senior guard had a quiet day, his 3-pointer from the top of the key late in the first half broke the Tritons' program record for the most 3's in a career with 221.

The Tritons get a bye on Wednesday before returning to the floor to host Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday at 4:00 PM.