ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd men's basketball team struggled offensively Saturday afternoon, dropping a Sunshine State Conference contest to Palm Beach Atlantic, 65-57, at the McArthur Center.
Despite the Sailfish pulling ahead by 13 late, the Tritons were able to cut their deficit in half thanks to a pair of
Travis Bianco 3-pointers with less than two minutes left. However, Eckerd was unable to complete the comeback as PBA pulled away.
HOW IT ENDED
Final: Palm Beach Atlantic 65, Eckerd 57
Records: Eckerd 7-12 (3-8 SSC); Palm Beach Atlantic 13-6 (6-5 SSC)
KEY MOMENTS
- Palm Beach Atlantic opened the game with an 8-2 stretch to take an early lead. The Sailfish maintained between a three and six point lead over the next five minutes before a Kristiyan Stavrev triple pulled Eckerd within two at 13-11 at the 10:21 mark.
- PBA responded to push out by seven one minute later before going up by nine at 24-15 at the 6:02 mark. The Tritons strung together six straight points to again pull within two with one minute left before the Sailfish took a 29-24 lead at halftime.
- PBA stretched its lead out to seven with 17:50 left in the half, but Eckerd followed with nine consecutive points capped by a Phillip Cirillo pocket 3-pointer to give EC a 35-33 lead at the 14:53 mark. However, PBA went on its own run of eight straight points to regain the lead.
- A Bianco triple stopped the run and pulled Eckerd within three, but the Sailfish went on a 9-0 run to push out by 12 with nine minutes left. PBA's lead fluctuated between nine and 13 points until the 1:34 mark, where Bianco hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull the Tritons within six. However, EC was unable to draw any closer as the Sailfish took the 65-57 victory.
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Bianco led all scorers with 21 points while Admir Radoncic followed with 15 points.
- Bianco also led EC on the board with seven rebounds.
- Both teams struggled offensively as Eckerd shot 39.1 percent while Palm Beach Atlantic shot 37.5 percent from the field.
QUOTABLE
"I'm very disappointed today. We didn't play smart and didn't play together," said head coach
Bryan Galuski. "Unfortunately, we kept turning the ball over and we must have a better value of each possession."
UP NEXT
Eckerd returns to action on Wednesday with a trip to Tampa for a 7:30 PM tipoff.
