BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Barry coach
Butch Estes was sweating at the end of this one as his Buccaneers men's basketball team pulled out a 94-83 win at Lynn Saturday.
The No. 15/24-ranked Bucs led the entire way, but Lynn erased double-digit leads in both halves to make Barry earn this one on the road. It was Barry's third straight win overall and its fifth in eight tries on the road this season.
"We've been pretty good on the road," Estes said. "Now we get to go home for three games."
The Buccaneers (15-3, 8-2) will begin the three-game homestand 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against Saint Leo.
Barry built a 17-point lead in the first half when
Adrian Gonzalez scored in transition. Dante Scholl's fastbreak layup pulled Lynn (10-9, 4-7) within nine at the 9:03 mark. The Bucs pushed the lead back to 12 on Gonzalez's jumper with 6:50 on the clock. But Lynn's Ben Berry hit a triple to cut it to seven 2:04 later. Fred Landers' three pulled the Fighting Knights within three 2:39 before halftime, but
Yunio Barrueta's tip-in and offensive putback a second before the buzzer sent Barry into the break up nine, 52-43.
The Bucs outscored the Fighting Knights 11-4 in second chance points in the opening half. Barrueta had 19 of his 21 points in the first half.
Barry shot 18 of 33 for 54.5 percent in the first half. Lynn was 14 of 30 for 46.7 percent.
Tray Leonard's tip 2:02 into the second half gave the Bucs an 11-point lead. Landers, who had 18 points and 10 boards, buried one of his four triples at the 14:24 mark to bring the Fighting Knights within 60-55. Barrueta sank two free throws to extend the Bucs lead back to nine, but Lynn's Russell Wilson converted a three-point play with 6:17 to go to cut the gap to five.
Marko Tomic scored with 10:16 left to give Barry a 71-62 lead, but Vieux Kande scored 1:50 later to pull the Fighting Knights within five.
Leonard scored on another tip-in with 5:03 to play, giving Barry a 10-point lead before Lynn used an 8-2 run to cut it to 85-81. Leonard banked in a 3-pointer as the shot clock was wearing down to put the Bucs ahead by seven with 57 seconds remaining. Wilson, who finished with 18 points and six assists, scored on a driving layup 12 seconds later to make it a five-point game. But Gonzalez scored twice, and
Anders Haas sank two free throws as Barry held on to win.
The Fighting Knights shot 55 percent in the second half to prevent the Buccaneers from running away with it. Barry hit 40 percent of its field goals in the second half.
Both teams modestly struggled from the free throw line. Barry was 18 of 26 for 69 percent. Lynn hit 14 of 23 for 60.9 percent.
Leonard went 6 of 12 from the floor and pulled down seven rebounds in the second half, and Haas scored 12 points and had four assists after the break to help the Bucs hold on. Leonard had his third straight double-double, finishing with 14 points and 10 boards and had three steals. Haas was 7 of 12 from the field to finish with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Barrueta recorded his ninth double-double, finishing with 21 points and 15 boards.
Gonzalez scored 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting.
Elvar Fridriksson had 12 points, six assists and two steals.
The Buccaneers outrebounded the Fighting Knights, 45-31.