KISSIMMEE, Fla. – It was a record-setting night in a runaway rout.
Barry University men's basketball team set a school record for wins in a season in its 86-54 rout of Nova Southeastern Saturday night in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament semifinals at Silver Spurs Arena. The No. 13 Buccaneers (24-4) will play No. 1 Florida Southern (29-1) for the title at 4 p.m. Sunday on ESPN3.
"It'll be great TV," Barry second-year coach
Butch Estes said. "I promise you that."
Barry set a school record for three-point field goals in a game, burying 17, including 10 in the second half.
Arie Williams hit all of his career-high seven triples in the second half to finish with a career-high 21 points.
"All of us are in the same mindset of just winning," Williams said.
Williams hit a deep 3 with 12:13 to play to give the Bucs a 16-point lead. It was his third straight triple of the half. The Sharks cut it to 11 when Chris Page sank two free throws. But
Tray Leonard converted a three-point play to give Barry a 59-45 lead with 8:04 remaining.
Then Williams put on another 3-point shooting clinic, burying four more threes in a 2:17 span to widen the lead to 25 and put the Sharks away.
Deric Hill found Williams on the first of those four threes.
"He was hot today, so I just felt like I had to feed him," Hill said. "They know when we're in it's going to be hastle, hastle, hastle, down their throat."
Barry shot 58.6 percent from the field in the second half, and went 10 of 17 from long distance for 58.8 percent after the break.
Yunio Barrueta had his 12
th double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. Hill tied his school record for assists in a season (215) after dishing out nine and scoring 10 points.
Barry raced out to a 16-4 lead on a triple by Hill, but Nova went on a 12-0 run to tie the game on Harrison Goodrick's layup at the 9:43 mark. The Bucs pushed the lead back to 10 when Barrueta banked in a 3-pointer with 5:31 to play in the half. NSU drew within eight before Barrueta scored and
Juan Ferrales had a steal and coast-to-coast layup to pad the lead back to 12. Page hit a jumper with 35 seconds left, but Barrueta scored on a tip to beat the halftime buzzer to send the Bucs into the break up, 35-23.
Ferrales had 11 points and four assists. He made three of six 3-pointers.
Barry outrebounded Nova, 40-18. The Bucs outscored the Sharks, 19-4, in second chance points.
"We lost our identity in two games right toward the end of the season," Estes said. "So the last week prior to the tournament, it was, 'Be who we are,' and, 'Be who you are.'"
On this night Barry was hot. Now they have a title to play for.