Furious Comeback Attempt Falls Short as Men's Basketball Falls to Tampa by One

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - For the second consecutive game, the Eckerd Tritons (7-6, 0-3) took a shot for a win in the waning moments but came up short as they fell to the Tampa Spartans (7-4, 1-1 SSC) by a score of 62-61 on Wednesday night at the McArthur Center.

The Tritons had to feel fortunate to even have an opportunity to win the game as the Spartans opened the contest on a 20-7 run, leading the game 31-15 at one point, en route to a lopsided 33-20 halftime lead.

In the first half, Eckerd could only muster a 28 percent field goal percentage on 7-of -25 attempts while Tampa shot 46 percent.

In the second half, the Spartans increased their lead to 38-24 with 18:17 to go before a jumper by Nick Agress proved to be the catalyst for a 22-7 run to give Eckerd a 46-45 lead with 10:46 left. During the run, Lewis Lampley hit back-to-back layups and Kornilous Donnell, making his first collegiate start, connected on consecutive threes.

The teams continued to trade baskets until a layup by Eckerd’s Trevor Lee shrunk a Tampa lead to 62-61 with 22 seconds remaining.

Tampa’s Anthony LaBruno missed the front end of a one-and-one with 14 seconds remaining, setting up the Tritons for their last-second shot.

Point guard Chris Gray drew two defenders near the elbow and threaded a pass to Lee underneath the hoop but his layup attempt fell short, icing the win for Tampa.

Zaronn Cann led the Tritons with 17 points off the bench while Donnell added 13 points and seven boards. Lampley filled the stat sheet with 11 points and 11 caroms. Tampa’s Rashad Callaway scored 17 points while Hunter Glyn and Fred Woods scored 14 and 12, respectively. For the game, the Tritons out-rebounded Tampa, 41-24.

The Tritons will return to action on Saturday, January 10 as they travel to Boca Raton, Fla. to battle the Lynn Fighting Knights at 7:30pm.



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Reason #8 to Believe in Division II:

Innovative Solutions: Division II encourages innovative policy and program decisions unique to the NCAA, such as the development of Division II National Championships Festivals and a national community-engagement program.

Eckerd College is a proud member of the Sunshine State Conference and NCAA Division II

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