Men's Basketball | 1/5/2002 9:40:00 PM

Box Score DAVIE, Fla.--It wasn't supposed to be this easy, but the Barry Buccaneers breezed past the Nova Southeastern Knights 78-57 at George Mayer Gym Saturday night.

In the last three games at Nova, the Buccaneers have two wins by four and seven points and a one-point loss.

"Nova has always played us tough at their place," Buccaneer head coach Cesar Odio said. "We really wanted to come in here and have a good showing."

The Bucs (7-4) jumped out to an early 14-10 lead after seven minutes behind the three-point shooting of Andres Alfonso who hit a pair of treys.

The Knights (0-14) ripped into the lead by scoring the next six points to take a 16-14 lead with 7:39 left on a short jumper by Marquise Kiffin.

Alfonso made sure the lead was short-lived by hitting three-pointers on the Bucs' next two possessions and Barry rebuilt the lead to 24-16 after a Yorell Calderon four-point play. The Bucs led 32-24 at the break.

Though the Knights scored the first basket of the second half, Barry quickly built a double-digit lead and maintained it throughout the half, stretching it to as much as 24 points before settling for the 22-point win.

Curtis Tonge led the Buccaneers again with 21 points, while Alfonso followed with 19 and Luis Vaquez-Bello added 14 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Tonge has led the Bucs in scoring in each of the last seven games.

Kluis Wimbush and Brandon Weiss each had 14 for the Knights, while Kiffin and Eduardo Reguera added 12 apiece.

The Buccaneers, who have now won three straight, open Sunshine State Conference play on Jan. 9 at Florida Southern and on Jan. 12 at Tampa before returning home on Jan. 16 to take on Rollins.