Men's Basketball | 1/24/2004 6:48:00 PM

Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—The Barry Buccaneers upset the Eckerd Tritons 63-57 at the McArthur Center Saturday in Sunshine State Conference men's basketball action.

The Tritons, the top-ranked SSC team in the latest NCAA Division II South Region Poll, jumped out to an early lead by starting the game with a 12-5 run, getting four points each from Marcus Bryant and Craig Hazel.

But the Buccaneers clawed back with an 8-0 run of their own, capped by back-to-back baskets from Luka Jaukovic which gave Barry (10-8, 3-3 SSC) its first lead at 13-12 with 11:06 left in the half.

After the Tritons (11-7, 4-3 SSC) forged a 17-13 lead, Clifford Smith led his own personal 7-0 run to give the Bucs a 20-17 lead with 5:50 left and Barry never trailed.

In the second half, Eckerd pulled even at 43-43 on a three-pointer by Greg Plummer at 8:33, but the Bucs quickly scored the next seven points to go up 50-43 and the Tritons could get no closer than three points the rest of the way.

Barry's Smith led all scorers with 22 points, while Nick Ellingsworth-Perez added 16 and Ryan Saunders had 11. Plummer led the Tritons with 15 points and Sharrod McCree and Bryant each added 10, with Bryant grabbing 11 rebounds for a double-double.

The Bucs return to the Health & Sports Center to host the pre-season favorites Rollins on Tuesday, January 27 at 7:30 pm.

Newspaper Box Score
Barry vs Eckerd
01/24/04 4:00 pm at St. Petersburg, FL (McArthur Center)
At St. Petersburg, FL (McArthur Center)
BARRY 63, ECKERD 57
BARRY (10-8, 3-3 SSC)
SMITH, Clifford 9-18 0-2 22; PEREZ, Nick 6-13 4-6 16; SAUNDERS, Ryan 3-4 4-6
11; JAUKOVIC, Luka 4-7 1-2 9; ALFONSO, Andres 1-3 0-0 3; JOHNSON, Casey 1-4
0-0 2; EVANS, Andy 0-3 0-2 0. Totals 24-52 9-18 63.
ECKERD (11-7, 4-3 SSC)
PLUMMER, Greg 5-9 2-3 15; MCCREE, Sharrod 5-13 0-0 10; BRYANT, Marcus 4-9
2-5 10; HAZEL, Craig 3-3 0-0 6; WASHINGTON, Anthony 1-12 4-4 6; AKINTOLA,
Peter 1-2 1-2 3; BERG, Steve 1-2 0-0 3; HENDERSON, James 1-3 0-0 2; DREADEN,
Dan 1-4 0-0 2; HULTMAN-BOYE, Per 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-59 9-14 57.
Barry......................... 29 34 - 63
Eckerd........................ 26 31 - 57
3-point goals-Barry 6-19 (SMITH, Clifford 4-8; ALFONSO, Andres 1-3;
SAUNDERS, Ryan 1-1; JOHNSON, Casey 0-2; EVANS, Andy 0-2; PEREZ, Nick 0-3),
Eckerd 4-21 (PLUMMER, Greg 3-7; BERG, Steve 1-2; WASHINGTON, Anthony 0-4;
HENDERSON, James 0-1; HULTMAN-BOYE, Per 0-1; MCCREE, Sharrod 0-6). Fouled
out--Barry-None, Eckerd-None. Rebounds-Barry 32 (PEREZ, Nick 9), Eckerd 39
(BRYANT, Marcus 11). Assists-Barry 12 (SAUNDERS, Ryan 6), Eckerd 10 (MCCREE,
Sharrod 4). Total fouls-Barry 14, Eckerd 17. A-317