Men's Basketball | 1/31/2004 4:47:00 PM

Box Score MIAMI SHORES, Fla.—The Barry Buccaneers ripped past the Tampa Spartans 74-64 in the Health & Sports Center Saturday in Sunshine State Conference men's basketball action.

Barry (11-9, 4-4 SSC) jumped out to a 22-12 lead in the first 10 minutes Ryan Saunders and Luka Jaukovic each had five points in the run as the Bucs spread the offense around.

Tampa (12-8, 4-4 SSC) trimmed the lead to three points, 22-19, at 8:36, but the Bucs responded with a 12-4 run to push the lead back to double figures, 34-23 at 4:43 on a jumper by Clifford Smith.

In the second half, the Bucs withstood several Tampa runs and took their biggest leads of 13 points on three-pointers by Smith at 8:14 and again at 6:06.

Smith, who hit six-of-eight from three-point range, led all scorers with 24 points. Nick Ellingsworth-Perez added 22 points and nine rebounds. James Mereus led the Spartans with 19 points, while Mark Borders had 14.

The Bucs travel to Boca Raton, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 4 to face the Lynn Knights at 7:30 pm.

Newspaper Box Score
Tampa vs Barry
01/31/04 2:00 pm at Health & Sports Center, Miami Shores, FL
At Health & Sports Center, Miami Shores, FL
BARRY 74, TAMPA 64
TAMPA (12-8, 4-4 SSC)
MEREUS, James 8-12 3-5 19; BORDERS, Mark 6-13 1-1 14; AMOS, Jason 3-5 4-4
11; SARGEANT, Rob 4-7 2-2 10; RUSSELL, Leighton 2-5 0-0 6; NORRIS, Jon 1-1
0-0 2; WADE, Larry 0-1 0-0 0; WILLIAMS, Earnest 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 24-49
12-14 64.
BARRY (11-9, 4-4 SSC)
SMITH, Clifford 9-13 0-0 24; PEREZ, Nick 6-10 8-10 22; JOHNSON, Casey 3-4
1-2 8; SAUNDERS, Ryan 3-5 0-2 7; JAUKOVIC, Luka 2-4 1-1 5; ALFONSO, Andres
1-4 1-2 4; EVANS, Andy 1-2 0-1 2; LEWIS, Rodney 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 26-45
11-18 74.
Tampa......................... 30 34 - 64
Barry......................... 36 38 - 74
3-point goals-Tampa 4-15 (RUSSELL, Leighton 2-3; AMOS, Jason 1-2; BORDERS,
Mark 1-5; WILLIAMS, Earnest 0-3; MEREUS, James 0-2), Barry 11-19 (SMITH,
Clifford 6-8; PEREZ, Nick 2-2; SAUNDERS, Ryan 1-2; ALFONSO, Andres 1-4;
JOHNSON, Casey 1-2; JAUKOVIC, Luka 0-1). Fouled out--Tampa-RUSSELL,
Leighton; MEREUS, James, Barry-None. Rebounds-Tampa 23 (MEREUS, James 7),
Barry 23 (PEREZ, Nick 9). Assists-Tampa 11 (BORDERS, Mark 5), Barry 16
(SAUNDERS, Ryan 6). Total fouls-Tampa 19, Barry 13. A-473