ATLANTA – Barry University's men's basketball team is Elite again.
The Buccaneers beat Eckerd, 79-72, in the NCAA Division II South Region Championship game at Morehouse College's Forbes Arena Tuesday night. It is the Bucs' second Sweet 16 victory in school history, and it set up a second trip to the Elite Eight.
Elvar Fridriksson scored 29 points, and Sunday Dech had 14 points and nine rebounds as the Buccaneers punched their ticket to Sioux Falls.
"I thought it was going to be my last game, and I said I didn't want to go out like that," Fridriksson said after singlehandedly pulling Barry back in it during a critical second half run.
The Bucs led by 15 in the first half, but watched their lead evaporate after going cold from the floor for six-and-a-half minutes. Eckerd built a nine-point lead with 12:33 to go, but Fridriksson hit two huge threes, and the Bucs' dreams of a trip to South Dakota were alive again.
"I just thought, 'Now or never,'" Fridriksson said. "Lucky me, I got some lucky shots to fall in, one off the glass. Sometimes in moments like that, when you want it so much, it just goes in."
Fridriksson's triple at the 10:25 mark put Barry back in front, 62-60. Eckerd's Trevon Young sank a free throw with 2:07 to go to tie it at 72-72, but Kooper Glick converted a huge three-point play at the 1:07 mark to put the Bucs in front for good. Dech came up with a huge block and rebound in the closing minute, and sank four key free throws to put it away.
"This team throughout the entire year has shown a great amount of perseverance to stay in the task and weather the storm," Bucs coach Butch Estes said. "I knew once we had the lead, we could win the game."
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Barry 79, Eckerd 72
Records: Barry (23-8), Eckerd (26-7)
All-Time Series: Eckerd leads, 45-31
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Barry built a 40-25 lead on a triple by Fridriksson with 3:12 to go in the first half. Eckerd's Kristiyan Stavrev tripled for the third time -- his last with 34 seconds remaining to pull the Tritons within seven. Fridriksson knocked down a jumper with nine seconds to go to send the Buccaneers into the break up, 46-37.
- The Buccaneers went 9 of 18 from three-point range in the first half. The Tritons hit 7 of 14 triples.
- After Evan Walshe scored 18 seconds into the second half to give Barry an 11-point lead, Eckerd went on an 11-0 run in 1:22 to tie the game at 48-48. The Tritons bumped their lead to nine with 13:04 to go as the Buccaneers went scoreless for 6:47.
- But Fridriksson willed the Bucs back in it on his own, hitting four triples and a jumper in the paint during a 2:30 stretch as the Ice Man authored a 14-3 run to put Barry ahead, 62-60, at the 10:25 mark.
- Myron Hagins gave the Tritons a 71-70 lead with 3:10 remaining before Daniel Mortensen buried a jumper on the next trip down the floor to put the Bucs in front by one. Young split a pair from the free throw line to tie it at 72-72 with 2:07 to, but Glick converted a huge three-point play a minute later to give Barry a 75-72 lead it would not relinquish.
NOTEWORTHY:
- The Buccaneers won their second South Region title in three years.
- Barry advanced to the Elite 8 for the second time in program history.
- The Bucs improved to 9-7 all time in the NCAA Tournament.
- Barry is 8-4 in the NCAA Tournament in head coach Butch Estes' five years at the helm.
- Fridriksson, Marko Tomic and Theo Turner have been a part of two South Region championship teams.
- Dech and Fridriksson were named to the South Region All-Tournament Team.
- Fridriksson was named the South Region Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:
"It's a Sweet 16 game you're going to want to remember."
-- Barry senior forward Sunday Dech
ON THE HORIZON:
Barry will advance to the Elite Eight to meet Ferris State at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. next Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET
