ST. PETERSBURG -- The Eckerd Tritons men's basketball team won its third straight game on Saturday, defeating the visiting Florida Southern Moccasins by a score of 89-81 inside the McArthur Center.
A back-and-forth pace kicked off the game, with each team holding slight leads and neither eclipsing an advantage of more than a single possession through the opening 10 minutes of action. Florida Southern was the first to break that trend, hitting a triple at 9:41 to grab a four-point lead before pushing it out to five moments later. Back-to-back three-pointers from
Miquel Llompart and
Wyatt Triestman quickly erased the deficit and put the Tritons back out in front before a 6-0 run later in the half gave the team its largest cushion of five at 30-25. The game saw three ties and a pair of lead changes in the final five minutes and resulted in a 44-42 score in favor of the Tritons. Eckerd shot 47 percent in the first half and hit 4-7 looks from behind the three-point line, while Florida Southern connected on 41 percent of its attempts and a 4-12 mark from three. Both teams knocked down 10 free throws in the opening period.
Two layups by Triestman and
Jacob Davis and a three from Llompart began the second half strong for the Tritons and helped build up a 51-42 lead three minutes in. The Mocs countered with an 11-0 run of their own to claim their first lead of the second half, setting up another exchanging of made shots that resulted in a 57-57 deadlock. From there, five straight points from Triestman jump-started a 7-0 run and a 13-2 plus-margin over the ensuing four minutes. Up 70-59 with 6:33 to play, the Tritons saw their lead dip below double figures just once over the next five minutes, seeing it reach as many as 13 following Triestman's triple around the four-minute mark.
Carlos Cortijo went a perfect 4-4 at the charity stripe in the final two minutes, and another pair of baskets down the stretch by
Caden Walton and Triestman kept Eckerd at a comfortable lead through the final buzzer.
Llompart led all scorers with 21 points, connecting on four three-pointers to spark the Tritons offensively. Triestman followed with 19 points and six rebounds, while Davis recorded a double-digit scoring effort with 10 points to go along with eight rebounds and three blocks. Walton added 12 points off the bench.
With the win, Eckerd improves to 10-6 overall and 4-5 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Tritons return to action on Wednesday to host No. 6 Palm Beach Atlantic.
