TAMPA, Fla. - After trailing by 13 at the half, the Eckerd men's basketball team rallied to take the lead midway through the second half. However, Tiffin (Ohio) regained its lead late. The Tritons nearly completed another comeback, but their shot at the buzzer bounced off the iron as they fell, 74-72, Saturday afternoon at the Bob Martinez Center at the Tampa Classic.
Eckerd struggled offensively in the opening half, shooting 37 percent, but managed to stay within two possessions of the Dragons for a majority of the half before TU ended the frame on a 13-4 stretch to take a 41-28 lead at the break.
EC opened the second half on a 16-5 run to pull within two (46-44) with 14:45 remaining. Eckerd rolled off seven straight points to take its first lead of the game at the 9:11 mark. The teams swapped leads over the next five minutes before Tiffin used a 7-0 run to take a 68-63 advantage.
The Dragons held a five-point lead with 43 seconds left, but a traditional three-point play by David Swedura pulled Eckerd within two. The Tritons then forced a Tiffin turnover. EC looked for the game-winning shot, but both of their attempts in the final 10 seconds narrowly missed.
HOW IT ENDED
FINAL: Tiffin 74, Eckerd 72
RECORDS: Eckerd 2-8, Tiffin 5-5
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Daniel Love led Eckerd for the second straight game with 22 points. He averaged 25.5 over the weekend.
- Swedura finished just behind with 18 points, while Leonard Okiti (11) and Joshua Galloway (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers.
- Galloway nearly logged a double-double, grabbing nine rebounds.
- Okiti's 11 points set a career-high. He went 5-for-5 from the field.
- Daimar Dyall-Richards grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.
- Colton Ryan made his career debut in the first half.
- Doug Williams, Jr. played a career-high 23 minutes.
- Eckerd posted a season-low nine turnovers.
- EC held a 42-31 advantage on the boards.
- The Tritons responded from a 37.5 shooting percentage in the first half to shoot 51.4 percent in the second half.
QUOTABLE
"Our team fought extremely hard tonight, and I am very proud of all of them," said head coach Bryan Galuski '98.
UP NEXT
Eckerd faces a 12-day break for the holiday before returning to action with an SSC contest at Tampa on New Year's Eve at 4:00 PM.
