Tritons Suffer Worst Shooting Performance of Season in Loss at Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. - Shooting woes arose again as an Achilles Heel for the Eckerd men's basketball team on Wednesday night as the Tritons suffered through their worst offensive performance of the season in a 72-54 loss at the University of Tampa in the final road game of the regular season.

The Tritons shot a paltry 25.3 percent from the floor and 14.8 percent from 3-point range, both season lows, while the Spartans benefited from 12 3-pointers and 15 blocked shots, nine of which came by the hands of Marc0 Downer.

Eckerd trailed for most of the game, falling behind by double-digits late in the first half and again early in the second.  The Tritons pulled within six points with 10:00 to play but subsequently went cold, scoring just four points over the next nine minutes.

HOW IT ENDED
Final: Tampa 72, Eckerd 54
Records: Eckerd 18-9 (11-8 SSC); Tampa 14-13 (8-11 SSC)

KEY MOMENTS

• A traditional 3-point play by Drushaun McLaurn four minutes into the game gave Eckerd what turned out to be its last lead at 8-6. Tampa's Anthony Gamble made a 3-pointer two possessions later to give the Spartans the lead for good.
• Tampa's lead hovered between four and six points until a quick burst of five unanswered points pushed its lead to 11 with 5:00 left in the first half.  The lead later reached 12 on Gamble's sixth 3-pointer of the half, but EC cut the gap to eight by halftime (37-29).
• The Spartans quickly jumped ahead by 12 early in the second half and later extended the lead to 14 points with 13:37 left. The Tritons responded with an 8-0 run, capped by five straight Marco Behori points, to get within six at the 10:00 mark. However, Gamble drained another 3-pointer to start a 10-0 run, and a cold-shooting Eckerd team was unable to make up the difference after missing 13 straight shots in the final 10 minutes.

NOTES AND NUMBERS

• The loss dropped Eckerd into a tie for fourth place with Barry at 11-8. Making a late-season run, the Buccaneers knocked off second-place Lynn University one game after defeating third-place Florida Southern.
• The Tampa win broke a five-game Eckerd winning streak over the Spartans.
• Eckerd's 25.3 percent shooting performance marked the first time that a Triton team shot under 30 percent since the 2003-04 season.
• Drushaun McLaurn had 19 points to lead Eckerd. He now has 1955 for his career. Myron Hagins was the only other Triton in double-figures with 13.

UP NEXT
Eckerd wraps up the regular season on Saturday hosting Embry-Riddle at 4:00 PM. The team's five seniors will be honored before the game.