St. Petersburg, Fla. – Lynn University's men's basketball closed out regular season play with a 74-58 loss to Eckerd College on Saturday afternoon. Josh Garcia had a game-high 18 points while Bo Jukic led all players with 10 rebounds. The Fighting Knights drop to 13-15 overall and 6-10 in the Sunshine State Conference.
Garcia proved to be the catalyst for the Fighting Knights offense, scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field in the opening period. The senior guard was there to answer the Tritons at every turn.
Eckerd (19-7, 11-5 SSC) was able to pull ahead by five, 21-16, midway through the first half but Garcia responded with a running jumper off the glass and a three from the left corner to knot the game up. Later the Tritons held a 30-25 advantage until Garcia, Slobodon Miljanic and Bo Jukic ralled the team to tie it up once again.
Two baskets in the final moments of the opening period though, helped the Tritons to a 35-30 lead heading into the locker room.
Lynn had good momentum in the second half, scoring two of its first three possessions only to watch as fouls put Eckerd on the line and helped it extend its lead into double-digits. Three consecutive shots at the charity stripe built the Tritons' lead to 44-34 with 15:34 to play.
A Brandon Smith three and lay-up brought LU back to within seven , 52-45, but that would be as close as the Blue & White would get. Josh Snodgrass converted on a three-point play and Wayne Sears added a pair of jumpers in the paint to push the Triton lead back into double-figures.
Lynn shot 46.8 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from three-point range and 70 percent from the line. Conversely, Eckerd hit 54.5 percent of its shots from the field, only 28.6 percent from beyond the arc but 80 percent from the line on 30 attempts.
The Fighting Knights must now wait to see who they will play in the opening round of the Sunshine State Conference Championship which begins on Wednesday, February 29.
