ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd men's basketball team led from wire-to-wire Wednesday night picking up a crucial SSC win over Florida Tech at the McArthur Center.
The Tritons controlled the run of play from the opening basket as they pushed out to as many as 15 in the first half. The Panthers closed the gap to pull within five points midway through the second half, but the Tritons responded with an 11-2 run to push back up by double digits before taking the 90-78 victory.
HOW IT ENDED
Final: Eckerd 90; Florida Tech 78
Records: Eckerd 8-15 (4-11 SSC); Florida Tech 10-14 (4-12 SSC)
KEY MOMENTS
- Eckerd controlled the tempo from the opening tip as they started the game on a 6-0 run. The Tritons continued their early hot hand with a 12-2 stretch capped by back-to-back Phillip Cirillo 3-pointers to take a 15-point lead at 26-11 with 11:09 left in the half.
- EC maintained a double-digit lead until the Panthers rolled off five straight points to narrow their deficit to eight with 4:42 left. However, Eckerd quickly answered with back-to-back triples by Kristiyan Stavrev and Dante Love, which ignited a run of nine straight points for a 17-point lead with 1:37 left before entering the half up 46-34.
- The Tritons opened the second half with five straight points to push back out by 17, but the Panthers put together a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to pull within six at 58-52 with 12:34 left. EC pushed back out by nine just ten seconds later, but Florida Tech pulled with five points one minute later following a Runako Ziegler layup.
- A traditional 3-point play by Admir Radoncic followed by a jumper from Malcolm Whitlow extended Eckerd's lead back to double-digits and Cirillo nailed two straight triples to put EC up 72-58 with 8:32 left. Stavrev gave Eckerd its largest lead of the night at 19 (86-66) following a 3-pointer with 4:11 left as the Tritons cruised the rest of the way for a 12-point victory.
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Radoncic led Eckerd with 21 points and Travis Bianco followed closely behind with 19. Three other Tritons reached double-figures – Myron Hagins (16), Cirillo (12), and Whitlow (11).
- Eckerd dominated the boards as they held a 41-27 favor. Hagins pulled down 11 rebounds as he recorded his eighth career double-double while Radoncic pulled down eight.
- Eckerd shot 53.1 percent from the floor and 54.6 from the perimeter.
- EC knocked down 12 triples; Cirillo hit four while Bianco made three.
QUOTABLE
"I'm really happy for the guys," said head coach
Bryan Galuski. "I am very impressed and proud of the guys on the offensive and defensive end. We had a balanced attack and shared the ball well tonight." He added, "It feels really good to get a win at home and its momentum for us going into a tough league game on Saturday at Lynn as we are fighting to make the conference tournament."
UP NEXT
Eckerd travels to Lynn on Saturday for a 4:00 PM start. The Knights sit one game ahead of Eckerd in the SSC standings.
