ST. PETERSBURG -- The Eckerd Tritons men's basketball team shot a blistering 70 percent (35-50) from the field on Tuesday night in the team's 108-62 victory over the visiting Puerto Rico-Bayamon Vaqueros.
The Tritons hit 22 of their 30 looks from the field in the opening half, good for a 73 percent clip and a 60-point showing. A three-pointer by the Vaqueros in the early minute and again before the first media timeout gave the visitors brief leads before their final advantage at 10-9 was erased by a layup from
Jacob Davis at 15:30. Eckerd never trailed the rest of the way, but Bayamon hung around for the next five minutes and remained within just six points at the halfway point of the opening period. The Tritons saw their first double-digit margin of the game come three minutes later on a jumper in the paint by
Dante Bouchard, but the Vaqueros continued to stick around, cutting it back down to five with six minutes left in the half. Eckerd closed out the final six minutes on a 23-6 run to lead 60-38 at the break. The team hit four of its eight attempts from behind the three-point line through the first 20 minutes, with
Miquel Llompart knocking down two of them.
The Tritons extended their cushion early in the second half, beginning the frame on a 15-4 scoring run in a span of five minutes.
Wyatt Triestman accounted for nine points during the outburst as the team built a lead of as many as 33 points. Triestman's three-pointer five minutes later set a new largest lead for the Tritons of 36 before
Ollie Pasque's triple around the five-minute mark hit the 50-point differential. Eckerd hit 68 percent of its shots in the second half and 58 percent from deep on the way to a 46-point triumph.
Four players reached double figures in scoring for the Tritons, led by Llompart's 22 points on 8-12 shooting. Triestman was next with 20 points on just 5-6 from the floor, while
Koa Baker notched 16 on a perfect 4-4 shooting night and 7-7 clip from the free throw line.
Caden Walton also added 13 points and six rebounds off the bench on 6-6 shooting. A total of 14 Tritons collected points in the win.
Eckerd will be back in action tomorrow to face UPR-Mayaguez.
