ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd men's basketball team rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to pull within one point Sunday night in the McArthur Center. However, the Tritons were unable to put away the go-ahead basket in the final minute as Our Lady of the Lake University (Texas) won, 88-83.
The Saints came out of the second half aggressively to take the double-digit lead, but
Admir Radoncic's 17 second-half points led Eckerd on a late 15-6 run to narrow the gap. EC eventually pulled within one point with 1:23 left before OLLU went on to win.
HOW IT ENDED
Final: Our Lady of the Lake 88, Eckerd 83
Records: Eckerd 3-2; Our Lady of the Lake 3-4
KEY MOMENTS
- Our Lady of the Lake started the game with a run of six points before a Travis Bianco layup put Eckerd on the board. The Saints' lead fluctuated between four and seven points over the next stretch before a traditional 3-point play by Malcolm Whitlow cut the deficit to one.
- The Saints pulled back out by four until Eckerd rolled off 12 straight points to take a 29-21 lead with 9:56 left. Eckerd maintained its lead over the next five minutes before OLLU went on a 12-1 run to take a 38-37 lead at the 3:14 mark. The teams swapped baskets over the remainder of the half as the Saints took a 45-43 lead into the break.
- Our Lady of the Lake used an early six-point scoring run to take a 56-45 lead. The Saints maintained between a nine and 15-point lead before EC went on an 8-0 run to pull within seven points at 65-58 with 8:50 left.
- OLLU pushed back out by 13 before Eckerd used a 15-6 scoring stretch to pull within four at 77-74 with over four minutes left. The Tritons pulled within one with 1:23 left on a Bianco free throw. EC followed with a critical defensive stop seconds later but failed to put away the go-ahead basket on the next possession. The Saints made all of their free throws inside the final 40 seconds to seal the win.
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Radoncic led Eckerd with a career-high 25 points while Myron Hagins and Bianco rounded out the double-digit scorers with 19 and 17 points, respectively.
- Whitlow missed a double-double by one point ending the night with nine points and 11 assists. Whitlow missed tying the single-game assist record by one which was set by Andre King-Holland on January 11, 2006.
- Hagins led EC on the boards with eight rebounds while Radoncic pulled down six.
- The Tritons held a 36-31 favor on the boards.
- Eckerd shot 48.7 percent from the floor while Our Lady of the Lake shot 50.0 percent from the floor.
QUOTABLE
"It was a disappointing loss. I thought that coming off a big win yesterday on the road, we would have played much better tonight than we did," said head coach
Bryan Galuski. "We did not play our best tonight and need to improve defensively, but I expect a great week of practice to prepare us for our two games at the Thanksgiving Classic."
UP NEXT
Eckerd is home again on Friday, hosting Francis Marion (S.C.) at 7:30 PM as part of the Thanksgiving Classic.
