Box Score DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - For the first time since 2011, the Eckerd men's basketball team will play for the Sunshine State Conference tournament championship - although that outcome wasn't certain until the very last second of today's semifinal contest.
The Tritons (24-6) built a big lead, then held off a furious rally by sixth-seeded Lynn to advance to the title game with a 64-61 victory.
Lynn had a chance to tie at the buzzer, but a well-defended 3-point attempt by Ben Berry from the right wing wasn't close. Drushuan McLaurn pulled down the rebound and 1.2 seconds later, Eckerd's stay in Daytona Beach was extended by a day.
"Nothing was easy today," said Eckerd head coach
Tom Ryan. "The defense was outstanding by both teams in the second half."
Despite struggling with turnovers in the second half, the Tritons were able to get defensive stops down the stretch when they were most needed.
"Defense is something we've always said that if we will commit to," Ryan said, "we will have a chance at the end of games."
For the majority of the first half, it seemed as though Eckerd would repeat its quarterfinal performance that saw EC blow out Florida Southern by 25 points.
The Tritons used smothering defense and efficient shooting to build a 19-point lead with 1:27 left in the first half. However, Lynn scored the final five points of the half to cut the deficit to 14 at the break.
That quick burst to close the half turned out to be a sign of things to come.
The Knights took a page out of Eckerd's book as the second half began, using its own brand of suffocating defense to trim the EC lead. First, a quick 9-3 run cut the lead to eight before the Tritons pushed back ahead by 13. But Lynn managed to hang around by forcing turnovers, and finally put together the type of run that helped the Knights earn a spot in the semifinals.
After a
Ray Darnell traditional 3-point play made it a 10-point game with 8:13 left, Lynn went on a 13-2 run to take its first lead of the game four minutes later.
Darnell came up big again for Eckerd on its next possession, making a layup in traffic to retake the lead. The Tritons would not trail the rest of the way, although Lynn never made things comfortable.
Four straight stops by the EC defense helped extend the lead to 64-58 with 32 seconds left before Berry connected on a deep 3-pointer and was fouled in the process. He missed the free throw, but Eckerd's
E.J. Moody missed two free throws seconds later to give the Knights a chance to tie.
They didn't, and the Tritons now have a chance to win their first SSC tournament title since 2007.
Eckerd held on despite 19 total turnovers, 13 of which came in the second half, leading to 24 points for the Knights. Ryan said his team shot the ball well enough in the second half (44.4 percent), but turned the ball over in the wrong places.
"The problem was that they turned us over so much and those turnovers went for easy buckets," he said. "A turnover at midcourt for a layup is much different than the one we throw out-of-bounds."
The Tritons also utilized their depth as the starting five only combined for 29 points. Instead, Eckerd got big performances from McLaurn (19 points) and
Ray Darnell (17 points) while going 14-of-19 from the floor together.
EC now advances to play top-seeded Barry University on Sunday at 1:00 PM in Embry-Riddle's ICI Center. Barry breezed past fourth-seeded Saint Leo, 91-72, in the day's first game. Barry and Eckerd each won by double-digits on their own home floors in the regular season.
