Tritons Trip Tampa, Complete Regular Season Sweep

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Led by a career performance by Keshawn Ingram and a double-double by Drushaun McLaurn, the Eckerd men's basketball team completed a regular-season sweep of the University of Tampa with an 86-72 win over the Spartans on Wednesday in the McArthur Center.

HOW IT ENDED
Final: Eckerd 86, Tampa 72
Records: Eckerd 16-3 (9-3 SSC); Tampa 7-11 (3-9 SSC)
All-Time Series: Tampa leads, 50-38

HOW IT HAPPENED

• As it happened in the previous contest between the two teams, Eckerd took an early lead that it did not relinquish.  Tampa's final lead came at the 15:28 mark of the first half on a Pat Bacon jumper.  One minute later, Blake Morrow scored five straight points to put Eckerd ahead for good.
• Ingram knocked down three straight 3-pointers as part of a 14-4 run midway through the first half, giving the Tritons an 11-point lead with 8:02 on the clock. Tampa answered with six straight points and had a chance to further trim the deficit but turned the ball over on an offensive foul.  Eckerd pushed its lead back to seven before a frantic final minute of the first half saw the Spartans fail on a trio of opportunities to pull within two points.  The last came with six seconds left on an inbounds pass that was stolen by Ingram and dished to McLaurn on the outlet.  McLaurn was fouled just before time expired and made both free throws to give EC a 40-34 lead at halftime.
• Another 14-4 Triton run early in the second half grew Eckerd's lead to 17 points (64-47) with 11:44 left.  Unwilling to be put away so quickly, Tampa responded with a 10-2 run cutting the EC lead to nine just two minutes later.  The Spartans later got within eight but the Tritons doubled the lead with eight consecutive points to essentially seal the win. Eckerd led by as many as 19 points before taking an 86-72 victory.

NOTES AND NUMBERS

• The win kept Eckerd in a tie for first place with Rollins, which also won tonight.  EC entered the day in a three-way tie for the top spot with Rollins and Barry; the Bucs were idle tonight and now sit a half-game behind EC and Rollins.
• The Tritons have won four in a row and five of their last six games against Tampa.
• Ingram set new career-highs in points (23) and 3-pointers made (6).  His previous career-high of 19 points came against Nova Southeastern during his freshman season.
• McLaurn (25 points, 11 rebounds) recorded his third double-double of the season.  Two of the three came against the Spartans.

QUOTABLE
"It was good to get a win against a tough conference opponent tonight, but our defensive performance was not up to our standards.  Offensively, we shot the ball very well and that carried us.  If we are going to have success down the stretch, our defense will have to get better." - EC head coach Tom Ryan

UP NEXT
The Tritons face a tough road test on Saturday, traveling to Barry University for a 4:00 PM tip-off.