ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- No. 23 Barry led for only a short time, and No. 6 Eckerd was able to win its 16th straight game, beating the Buccaneers, 90-74, Saturday at the McArthur Center.

Barry was vying for its third straight win in St. Petersburg, but the host Tritons prevented a third consecutive second half comeback on this floor. It snapped a six-game win streak for the Bucs. Barry lost for the third straight time to a Top-10 team. 

Barry (12-3, 5-2 Sunshine State Conference) will play at Florida Tech 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Eckerd improved to 16-1, 8-0, taking a two-game lead in the conference standings. 

"We really did come out in the second half ready to play," Bucs coach Butch Estes said. "They hit some incredibly hard shots. It was a tough, physically hard basketball game played by two good basketball teams." 

Trevon Young scored with 9:28 remaining to give the Tritons a six-point lead. Young then hit a triple after Barry's Adrian Gonzalez split a pair from the free throw line to pad Eckerd's lead to eight. Bucs senior guard Anders Haas answered on the next trip down the floor to cut it to five. But Barry went 3:01 without scoring before Tray Leonard converted with 5:29 to go to cut Eckerd's lead to 68-62. 

A Bucs turnover led to a Tritons runout when Jerrick Stevenson scored to give Eckerd a 10-point lead with 2:42 left. Barry's Undra Mitchem hit a triple before scoring on a layup with 1:38 to go to cut it to 76-69. But a flurry of Bucs fouls and turnovers down the stretch allowed the Tritons to run away with it.

"Today they were just a little bit better basketball team," said Estes, whose team was held to its second lowest scoring total of the season.

The Bucs outscored the Tritons 19-9 to open the second half, taking a 52-50 lead on a pair of Haas free throws with 14:46 remaining. It was Barry's first lead since 58 seconds into the game. Eckerd's Kevin Walsh hit a fall-away triple with 13:11 on the clock to put the Tritons up by two, but Haas scored to tie it on a dish from Yunio Barrueta on the next trip down the floor. 

The Tritons led for all but 1:44 in the game, remaining in control for almost 91 percent of the game. Barry tied the game three times, but could never seize control. The Buccaneers trailed 41-33 at the half. The 33 points at the break was the third lowest of the season for the Bucs. Eckerd leads the league in defense.

Barry shot just under 42 percent in the first half, going 13 of 31. Barrueta sat for six minutes at the end of the half after picking up his third foul. Barrueta hit his first two field goals, but was not a factor the rest of the half. The Bucs were whistled for 12 fouls in the opening half.

The Buccaneers were outrebounded, 42-23. Barrueta, who had been averaging over 10 rebounds per game, was held to just one board.

"Probably at the end of the night, that is the deciding factor," Estes said of the discrepancy in rebounds. "I'm not discouraged. I saw a few good things out of our team. They're a very well-coached team, and probably well-deserving of a Top 10 ranking."

Mitchem finished with 18 points, marking the second time this season he's led the Bucs in scoring. He also had six rebounds, which tied Leonard for a team high. Mitchem came alive at the end of Wednesday's game to trigger the Bucs win.

"He's starting to really get a feel," Estes said of his junior transfer. "His confidence is growing."

Barrueta finished with 17 points on 7 of 15 shooting. He had a season-high six assists. Haas scored 16 points, going 5 of 8 from the floor, while grabbing five rebounds. Leonard had nine points to go along with his six boards and one block. Stevenson scored 25 points, and Walsh had 12 for the Tritons.

Barry shot 45 percent from the field, while Eckerd hit 49 percent of its shots. The Buccaneers went 8 of 24 from 3-point range for 33 percent. The Tritons were 9 of 19 for 47 percent. Eckerd leads the league in 3-point percentage defense. The Bucs were 10 of 17 from the free throw line for a season-low 58.8 percent. Eckerd was 23 of 31 from the line. 

Barry fell to 3-3 on the road.