ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Buzzer-beaters are hard to come by, let alone making two in one game, but Daniel Love did just that as the Eckerd men's basketball team topped West Alabama, 69-67, in an overtime thriller at the McArthur Center Saturday afternoon.
Eckerd struggled offensively to start the game as the Tigers took an 11-point lead midway through the first half, but EC ended the half on a 19-6 run to take a 33-31 lead at the break.
The Tritons pushed their lead to seven at the 11:01 mark, but the Tigers responded to take a one-point lead three minutes later as the teams stayed within two possessions of each other the rest of the way.
UWA took a three-point lead and got a pair of critical defensive stops inside the final twenty seconds for what looked to have sealed the game. However, a pair of Tiger technical fouls gave EC the ball with .7 seconds left. Love received the inbounds pass from Mekhi Perry and banked in the shot from the wing to force overtime.
EC and UWA swapped baskets in overtime and remained tied at 67-67 with 12 seconds left. Love's heroics came through once again as he made a drive to the left of the lane and netted a pull-up jumper as time expired for the victory.
HOW IT ENDED
FINAL: Eckerd 69, West Alabama 67 (OT)
RECORDS: Eckerd 1-1, West Alabama 1-1
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Love led Eckerd with a career-high 20 points, while three other Tritons posted double-figures: Daimar Dyall-Richards (15), Gianfranco Grafals (14), and David Swedura (10).
- Love and Swedura led the team on the boards with seven rebounds each. Grafals followed with six.
- This was Eckerd's second straight overtime match.
- Love rounded out his stat line with five assists.
- EC shot 45.8 percent from the floor while holding the Tigers to a 33.9 shooting percentage.
- The game combined for 21 ties or score changes.
- EC has won eight of its last nine meetings with UWA.
QUOTABLE
"This is an outstanding win for our team, and I am so proud of our locker room," said head coach Bryan Galuski '98.
"Yesterday was our first game playing together as a team, and we looked good but definitely had some things we needed to fix. Then coming into today, we made those adjustments, and our defense came through," said Love. [on hitting the game-winning shot] "I give all my props to my teammates and my coaches for believing in me and trusting me."
UP NEXT
Eckerd heads into conference play with a trip to Lynn on Saturday for a 6:00 PM start.
