Men's Basketball | 3/4/2004 3:45:00 PM

Box Score WINTER PARK, Fla. – Anthony Washington's three-pointer with 1:29 remaining in the game lifted the Eckerd Tritons (18-10) to a 48-45 victory over the Barry Buccaneers (14-14) in the opening round of the Sunshine State Conference Men's Basketball Tournament in the Alfond Sports Center.

Washington, who scored a team-high 12 points, gave the Tritons a 44-43 lead, Eckerd's first lead since scoring the first two points of the contest from the free-throw line.

The first half belonged entirely to Barry, which jumped out to an 11-4 lead seven minutes into the contest, and took a 28-17 lead, their largest of the game, at halftime. Barry shot 57% (12-of-21) from the field in the first half, while the staunch Buccaneer defense, ranked among the national leaders in NCAA Division II, limited Eckerd to just 22% shooting (six-of-27) in the first half.

Roles would be reversed in the final 20 minutes, as Eckerd outscored Barry 31-17. The Tritons shot 46% (11-of-24) from the floor, while Barry converted just 29% (seven-of-24) of their field goal attempts.

Barry's Nick Ellingsworth-Perez led all scorers in the game with 19 points on eight-of-13 shooting from the field. Ellingsworth-Perez also grabbed nine rebounds, matching Eckerd's Marcus Bryant for the game high. Clifford Smith added 13 points for the Buccaneers.

Sharrod McCree and Steve Berg each scored nine points, while Bryant and Greg Plummer added eight points for the Tritons.

"They are one of the best offensive teams in the league and possess a lot of firepower," said Barry head coach Cesar Odio. "They made some adjustments at the half and did a better job of getting the ball to Marcus Bryant and a much better job of getting the ball to the post."

"We haven't had the heart yet to come back this season," stated Eckerd head coach Tom Ryan. "We have not showed the kind of spunk that we did today. They played together the whole second half."

In the winning effort, Eckerd was hampered by poor free throw shooting the entire game, shooting just 38% (eight-of-21) from the line.

"It's not the same as shooting in practice," added Ryan. "You miss a few shots and all of a sudden you're going up there tight. But we shot 38.1% from the line and won. I'll take that for lunch any day."

Eckerd will meet the winner of tonight's Rollins-Saint Leo game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in the second semifinal contest. The Buccaneers ended their season with a 14-14 overall record and a 7-7 mark in the SSC.

Newspaper Box Score
Barry vs Eckerd
03/04/04 12:00 p.m. at Warden Arena, Winter Park, FL
At Warden Arena, Winter Park, FL
ECKERD 48, BARRY 45
BARRY (14-14)
PEREZ, Nick 8-13 2-2 19; SMITH, Clifford 6-15 0-0 13; SAUNDERS, Ryan 2-5
0-2 5; LEWIS, Rodney 2-3 0-0 5; JAUKOVIC, Luka 1-2 0-0 2; JOHNSON, Casey
0-3 1-2 1; ALFONSO, Andres 0-3 0-0 0; EVANS, Andy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
19-45 3-6 45.
ECKERD (18-10)
WASHINGTON, Anthony 5-10 1-4 12; BERG, Steve 3-5 0-0 9; MCCREE, Sharrod
3-12 2-2 9; PLUMMER, Greg 3-11 1-2 8; BRYANT, Marcus 2-8 4-13 8;
AKINTOLA, Peter 1-3 0-0 2; HAZEL, Craig 0-1 0-0 0; HULTMAN-BOYE, Per 0-1
0-0 0. Totals 17-51 8-21 48.
Barry......................... 28 17 - 45
Eckerd........................ 17 31 - 48
3-point goals-Barry 4-14 (SMITH, Clifford 1-5; LEWIS, Rodney 1-2; PEREZ,
Nick 1-1; SAUNDERS, Ryan 1-2; ALFONSO, Andres 0-2; JOHNSON, Casey 0-2),
Eckerd 6-21 (BERG, Steve 3-5; PLUMMER, Greg 1-5; MCCREE, Sharrod 1-6;
WASHINGTON, Anthony 1-3; HULTMAN-BOYE, Per 0-1; AKINTOLA, Peter 0-1).
Fouled out--Barry-EVANS, Andy, Eckerd-None. Rebounds-Barry 38 (PEREZ,
Nick 9), Eckerd 33 (BRYANT, Marcus 9). Assists-Barry 12 (ALFONSO, Andres
5), Eckerd 10 (MCCREE, Sharrod 2; PLUMMER, Greg 2; HULTMAN-BOYE, Per 2;
WASHINGTON, Anthony 2). Total fouls-Barry 19, Eckerd 8. A-322