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College basketball
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 27, 2003
LAKELAND -- Eckerd College coach Tom Ryan can finally wash his suit.
Ryan hasn't cleaned his lucky black suit in more than a week, after the Tritons won three straight in the NCAA Division II South Regional. But the clothes are going straight to the washer after a 99-78 loss to Queens College of North Carolina on Wednesday night in the Elite Eight quarterfinals at the Lakeland Center.
Eckerd (25-7) made its first appearance in the Elite Eight, and it was a short one thanks to the hot shooting of guard Spencer Ross and forward Carlos Andrade. Ross scored a game-high 32, including 26 in the second half. Andrade scored 21, 17 in the first half.
"We didn't have any answers for Queens tonight," Ryan said. "Every time we did something it seemed like they did it a little better."
A quick glance at the box score proves that. The Tritons were anemic in about every category. They shot 38.6 percent from the field, well under their 48 percent average. From 3-point range, Eckerd hit 9-of-28.
Compare that with the Royals 69 percent shooting, including 8-of-16 from 3-point range. Queens had five players score in double figures. Cerwin Thompson led Eckerd with 16 points. Kendrick Wilson added 15.
Eckerd cut the lead to one midway through the first half, then Queens went on a 12-3 run for a 10-point lead. The lead dwindled to 34-32 with a 1:06 left in the half, then the Royals had a 7-2 run to lead 41-33.
It was much of the same, except a little more, for the Tritons in the second half.
Ross gained confidence after every shot. At one point, he scored 13 straight. Add three straight missed layups by the Tritons and a technical foul on Thompson, and the rout was on.
"We did a pretty good job on (Ross) in the first half, but for some reason we let him get going in the second half," Wilson said. "We didn't execute on defense and once he got going, we knew he could score."
Eckerd College also had trouble handling the Royals inside game. Center Hector Valenzuela hit 5-of-6 and had 10 rebounds. Moustapha Diouf had four blocks. Andrade, aside from making 8 of 13 shots, had a game-high 11 rebounds. The Tritons were outrebounded 47-27.
BOWIE ST. 72, UMASS-LOWELL 62: Stephen Moss-Kelly scored 21 and Tim Washington added 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs (30-4). Elad Inbar scored a game-high 27 to lead Massachusetts-Lowell (28-4), which led by five at the half. Bowie State faces Kentucky Wesleyan at 6 tonight.
KY.-WESLEYAN 85, CAL POLY POMONA 60: Marlon Parmer scored 20, 19 in the first half, to lead the Panthers (30-3), who were ahead by as many as 32 in the second half. Kentucky-Wesleyan is looking for its sixth straight trip to the championship.
N'EASTERN ST. 94, NEBRASKA-KEARNEY 75: Derek Cline scored 25, including 7 of 8 3-pointers, for Northeastern State (30-3), which advanced to the semifinals for the first time. The Redmen face Queens at 8:30 tonight.
-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.