BOCA RATON, Fla. - Lynn University's men's basketball team sent senior Herb Thomas out the right way on senior night; with a 74-62 victory over Eckerd in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon. Thomas a season-high eight points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes of play. Kaleb Clyburn served as the quarter for the offense, scoring a team-high 13 points and adding nine assists. The Fighting Knights head to the Sunshine State Conference Championship having won two their last three to improve to 9-17 overall and 3-13 in the conference.
The Blue & White will be the No. 9 seed in the conference tournament and will face either Tampa or Saint Leo on Thursday, March 6 at noon.
A three-pointer by Alex Bodney put Eckerd (15-13, 7-9 SSC) on top 7-6, giving the Tritons their only and last lead of the game. Fred Landers, who battled foul trouble for much of the contest, responded with a trey and the Blue & White never looked back.
Josh Soto's first shot from beyond the arc swished through the net with 11:58 remaining in the first half to give Lynn an 18-9 lead. The Tritons would go on a 10-1 run, highlighted by six points from Jerrick Stevenson, to even things up but Clyburn drained a three from the right wing to put his team back ahead.
Eckerd hit the line an amazing 18 times in the first half and 35 times for the game. Josh Snodgrass scored his team's last six points to once again tie things up at 26-26 only to see Clyburn score four more points to give the Fighting Knights a 30-26 advantage heading into the locker room.
Both Lynn and Eckerd jockeyed for points to open the second half but it was Thomas who helped pull the game back in the Blue & White's favor with a jumper in the pain with 10:15 to play. The senior from Lawrenceville, Ga., later pulled down a huge rebound through traffic and hit Haki Stampley for a wide-open three to put the dagger in the heart of Eckerd's comeback attempt.
Dante Scholl added a career-high 10 points and seven points while Soto and Stampley scored 11 and 12 points on a combined 7-of-11 shooting.
The Fighting Knights shot a robust 49.1 percent from the field, 50 percent from downtown (11-for-22) and 68.8 percent from the free-throw line. Conversely, Eckerd was held to 38.1 percent shooting and 28.6 percent from beyond the arc while hitting 25-of-35 shots at the line for an 80 percent mark.
Lynn returns to action in the SSC Championship on Thursday, March 6, at noon. Fans can watch the action live at LynnFightingKnights.com and receive in-game updates by following @LUKnights on Twitter, Instagram and Vine.
