ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Following a tight second half, a late 7-2 run capped by a Daniel Love triple sealed the victory as the Eckerd men's basketball team fended off Rollins, 87-82, Wednesday night at the McArthur Center.
Rollins opened the game aggressively, jumping out to a 21-10 lead at the 13:13 mark. However, EC responded with a scoring flurry of 17 consecutive points to take a 25-21 favor four minutes later. Minutes later, the Tritons rolled off 11 straight points to take a 38-26 advantage with four minutes remaining before the Tars cut EC's lead to 40-37 at the half.
The teams swapped leads over the opening minutes of the second half until EC pushed in front by five at the 13:53 mark. The Tritons took a seven-point lead (65-58) with 7:44 remaining. The Tars followed with a 10-2 run to push in front. A Daniel Love layup with 2:53 left gave the Tritons back the lead (74-73), and his triple a minute later shut the door as EC made its free throw down the stretch to seal the win.
HOW IT ENDED
FINAL: Eckerd 87, Rollins 82
RECORDS: Eckerd 5-14 (3-13 SSC), Rollins 13-11 (8-8 SSC)
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Gianfranco Grafals led Eckerd with 25 points while Love added 22.
- Kent Garard and Leonard Okiti rounded out the double-figure scorers with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
- Garard nearly posted a double-double adding nine boards.
- Eckerd held a 34-27 advantage on the boards.
- EC dished out a season-high 20 assists. Both Grafals and Love had six apiece.
- The Tritons shot 54.1 percent from the floor, their second-highest percentage of the year.
UP NEXT
Eckerd faces Saturday off from action and returns to the SSC play next Wednesday with a 7:30 PM tip at Embry-Riddle.
