No. 15 Lynn Pulls Away Late to Defeat Cold-Shooting Tritons

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd men's basketball team suffered through its worst shooting performance of the season while 15th-ranked Lynn caught fire from the perimeter late in the game as the Fighting Knights pulled away in the final minutes for a 71-62 win over the Tritons on Saturday in the McArthur Center.

HOW IT ENDED
Final: No. 15 Lynn 71, Eckerd 62
Records: Lynn 10-0 (3-0 SSC), Eckerd 9-3 (2-2 SSC)

KEY MOMENTS

• Eckerd led for the entire first half after a Kristiyan Stavrev jumper opened the game.  The Tritons had a chance to build a double-digit lead at halftime, leading by eight with the ball, but missed two shots in the final minute while Lynn's Ryan Peterson scored twice in the paint to cut the lead to four at the half, 32-28.
• A 7-0 run early in the second half pushed Eckerd's lead back to seven points at 39-32 with 14:25 left.  The lead later grew to eight, matching EC's largest of the game, after a putback by Drushaun McLaurn three minutes later. However, Lynn responded with a 12-0 run with a trio of 3-pointers from Jamal Palmer and a final triple by Brandon Bornelus to claim its first lead of the game.
• The Tritons tied the game at 50-50, but Michael Baez scored Lynn's next 12 points as part of a 12-2 run that put the Fighting Knights up by 10 with 3:00 left.  
• Eckerd, meanwhile, went five minutes without a field goal before Marco Behori's layup with 1:33 left broke the drought. The Tritons made a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute but it was too little, too late as Lynn stayed unbeaten on the season.

NOTES AND NUMBERS

• Eckerd shot a season-worst 31.3 percent from the floor. Before the three late baskets, the Tritons were shooting below 30 percent for the game. 
• Lynn made seven of its last 10 3-point attempts after making two of its first 12.  It helped the Knights outscore Eckerd, 35-18, over the final 11:30 of the game.
• McLaurn narrowly missed a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds while Behori had 13 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.
• McLaurn recently passed George Blake to move into second on Eckerd's career scoring list.  With 1,721 career points, he still needs 351 to tie Dwayne Perry for the all-time lead.  He also passed Tim Thornton for eighth place on the career rebounding list with 710.

UP NEXT
Eckerd returns to the McArthur Center next Saturday, January 5, to host Palm Beach Atlantic at 4:00 PM.