LAKELAND, Fla. – The Eckerd men's basketball team rallied from a 12-point deficit late in the second half to take a five-point lead inside the final minute. However, Northwood (Mich.) scored six straight points to take the lead in the final minute. The Tritons were unable to get off a quality look in the last second falling to the Timberwolves 61-60 Saturday night at the Florida Southern Classic.
HOW IT ENDED
Final: Northwood 61, Eckerd 60
Records: Eckerd 6-5; Northwood 6-5
KEY MOMENTS
- Northwood opened the game with a quick start jumping out to a 14-3 lead over the first five minutes. Eckerd followed with an 8-2 stretch to pull within five with ten minutes left in the half. Both teams cooled off offensively over the next six minutes before the Timberwolves pushed back out by 12 at the 4:07 mark. A Myron Hagins layup ignited a seven-point scoring stretch over the final two minutes as EC pulled within five (27-22) at the break.
- NU opened the second half with a 10-3 run to go ahead by 12 at 37-15 with 14:43 left. Eckerd used a 9-3 stretch to trail by six at the 12:07 mark and closed the gap to 43-42 three minutes later following back-to-back Hagins triples and an O'Shane Taylor-Douglas layup.
- Northwood briefly pushed back out by six before EC capitalized on nine straight points ending with an Admir Radoncic 3-pointer to take a 51-48 advantage with 5:04 left. The Tritons held a slight edge over the next four minutes and went up by five with 58 seconds left following a Malcolm Whitlow free throw. However, the Timberwolves made a triple followed by a traditional 3-point play from Trey McBride to take a 61-60 lead with 12 seconds left. Eckerd came down the floor looking for the last-second shot, but Whitlow's attempt under the basket was stripped.
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Hagins and Radoncic led Eckerd with 16 points each while Whitlow rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points.
- Radoncic posted his third double-double of the season as he also grabbed 10 rebounds. Hagins nearly missed his second straight double-double finishing the night with nine rebounds.
- Taylor-Douglas grabbed three steals.
- EC shot just 37.9 percent from the floor and 27.8 percent from beyond the arc.
QUOTABLE
"I'm disappointed in the outcome tonight. We had our chance tonight, but weren't able to make the plays we needed to down the stretch," said head coach
Bryan Galuski. "We need to trust each other and execute down the stretch on both ends. This is certainly a game to learn from."
UP NEXT
Eckerd returns to play in the new year, traveling to No. 5 Nova Southeastern on January 2 for a 7:30 PM tip off.
