Box Score

LAKELAND, Fla. – Barry University men's basketball team's season came to an end Sunday in the NCAA Tournament, following a 90-82 loss to Lynn at Florida Southern in the South Region semifinals.
 
Barry finished with a school-best 25-6 record, but couldn't advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.
 
"It was a record-breaking year for us at Barry University," Bucs coach Butch Estes said. "Our two seniors that are with me in Juan Ferrales and Savad Garner, along with Deric Hill and Jevoni Robinson, made major contributions to the resurgence of our program."
 
But Barry couldn't deliver on the biggest stage it had been on this season, constantly trying to play catch-up in a game Lynn controlled from start to finish.
 
The Buccaneers dug themselves a 15-point deficit in the first half and early in the second half, but forced 17 Lynn turnovers to trim the Fighting Knights' lead down to one with 4:06 to play when Hill buried a 3-pointer. Barry fought an up-hill battle the entire way as Lynn (21-9) led for all but 1:41 in the game. Garner's basket with 1:44 to play kept the Bucs within two, but Barry couldn't get over the hump.
 
Yunio Barrueta finished with 21 points, six rebounds and four steals. He will enter his senior season needing 23 points to reach 1,000 in his Bucs career. Garner was 8 of 10 from the field for 16 points in one of his best games of the season.
 
"I was blessed to come here and help this program get back to where it was," Garner said. "I was blessed to come back to the NCAA Tournament two years in a row."
 
Barry fell behind by 14 on a layup by Russell Wilson with 7:59 to play in the first half. Lynn pushed its lead to 15, but a layup by Barrueta cut the gap to 10 with 4:39 to play before halftime. Ben Berry, who finished with 24 points, hit one of his six 3-pointers to extend the Fighting Knights' lead back to 14 at the 2:03 mark. The Bucs cut it to nine twice the rest of the half on a triple by Barrueta and layup by Tray Leonard, but Wilson scored to beat the halftime buzzer to send Lynn into the break up 11.
 
Lynn had 10 second chance points in the first half, and outscored the Bucs 17-6 in points off turnovers.
 
Barry opened the second half with a 14-6 run to close within five on a layup by Barrueta at the 14:29 mark. Ferrales hit a field goal in the paint with 9:05 to go to pull the Buccaneers within 58-55, but the Fighting Knights re-extended their lead back to seven on a pair of Wilson's free throws. A triple by Arie Williams, layup by Barrueta and basket by Garner brought the Bucs within two, 64-62, at the 6:01 mark.
 
Ferrales and Barrueta each scored on opposite ends of a basket by Lynn's Fred Landers to keep it a two-point game. After David Johnson scored to put the Fighting Knights ahead four, Hill converted a layup, and then answered another Lynn basket with a triple to pull the Bucs within one with 4:06 on the clock. But Barry never drew closer than two the rest of the way.

"We played for the seniors," Barrueta said. "It's a tough loss. Moving on to next year, we've got to work on the little things." 
 
Ferrales capped his career with 14 points, five rebounds and two steals. Hill had 13 points and five assists in his final collegiate game. Williams had 12 points for the Bucs, who were outrebounded 42-28. Landers scored 23 for the Fighting Knights.
 
"The one thing that I've tried my hardest, being in your last year, being more mature, is realizing your career," said Ferrales, who finished fourth in school history in 3-point field goals made with 155 in his two years with the Bucs, "and how grateful you are for the moments that you had. We went to two straight NCAA appearances. We made history at our school."
 
Barry's six losses are the fewest in school history.

"Today is very disappointing," Estes said. "We knew what we had to do. In a lot of areas, we did really well, but in some areas we came up short. Their assertiveness was something to be admired. They played at a really high level. We kind of got in a hole, and we never got over the hump. Hats off to them. They made the shots and all the big plays when they had to."