DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Barry University men's basketball team used some high-octane defense in to translate into a 91-72 win over Saint Leo Saturday in the Sunshine State Conference semifinals at the ICI Center at Embry-Riddle.

No. 17 Barry (23-5) will advance to the SSC Championship game for the second straight year. The Bucs will play No. 25 Eckerd (24-6) at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Undra Mitchem and Elvar Fridriksson each had four of the Buccaneers 11 steals, including a key strip and transition bucket midway through the second half to help propel Barry's up-tempo offense. After Saint Leo (19-11) cut a 16-point lead down to 10, Mitchem's steal led to a transition basket. Barry quickly bumped its offense out to 18 over the next three minutes, and the Lions could not recover.

The Bucs outscored the Lions, 30-4, in transition.

"Whenever our offense is getting stagnant, I always say, we've got to get our defense going," said Mitchem, who finished with 11 points and four rebounds, shooting five of 10 from the field.

Yunio Barrueta finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds, going nine of 17 from the floor and nine of 10 from the free throw line. He was one of five players who scored in double figures for the Buccaneers, who shot just under 51 percent. Barrueta broke the school career record for rebounds, passing Willie Whitfield's previous mark of 808. Barrueta has 810 now. He also moved into second place on the school's all-time scoring list.

Adrian Gonzalez scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half on five of eight shooting in 12 minutes, helping Barry jump out to a 46-34 lead at the break. The Bucs were 19 of 39 shooting in the first half. 

"I'm surprised when Adrian misses," Mitchem said. 

Barrueta hit a jumper in the paint at the 10:03 mark to give the Bucs a 26-17 lead. Fridriksson's 3-pointer and Gonzalez's tip-in pushed Barry's lead to 12. Anders Haas, who scored eight of his 14 points in the first half, hit a layup with 3:43 on the first half clock to extend the Buccaneers lead to 16, but the Lions eventually cut it to 12 heading into the break.

Fridriksson's steal and layup 2:13 into the second half bumped the lead back to 16. But Saint Leo threw a zone defense at Barry midway through the half that slowed down the Bucs for a stretch. Barry's perimeter game struggled as the Bucs were four of 18 from 3-point range. Mitchem's steal and basket out of a timeout swung the tempo back into the Buccaneers' liking, and Barry dashed off to the title game.

Fridriksson had 12 points and 10 assists to couple with his four steals. 

Barry outrebounded Saint Leo, 45-29. The Bucs outscored the Lions, 58-28, in the paint.

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