Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Eckerd slump continues with home loss to Rollins

ST. PETERSBURG - Eckerd is starting to distance itself from Sunshine State Conference opponents. Unfortunately for the Tritons, it's the opponents who are pulling away.

Eckerd, hoping to win its first regular-season conference championship since 1995, may have to wait another year after a 72-63 loss to Rollins on Saturday night. The Tritons (12-8, 4-4) fell three games behind Florida Southern and two games behind Rollins and Lynn.

Eckerd has lost three of four. Rollins is 16-4.

"We got outplayed in our gym," Eckerd coach Tom Ryan said. "I don't mind losing at home as long as we play hard. But we got outplayed. There is no excuse for that."

Rollins guard Eric Faber scored a career-high 36, including 17 of 19 free throws. Isaac Codrey was the Tars' next highest scorer with nine.

Trailing 35-25 at halftime thanks to 39 percent shooting, the Tritons never made a run in the second half. The lead bulged to 50-33 midway through the half.

With 4:38 left the Tritons cut the lead to eight, but poor offense and five straight free throws by Faber put the game out of reach.

Sharrod McCree led Eckerd with 13 points and Anthony Washington added 12.

"We're not getting any better," Ryan said. "We take one step forward and then one backward. If we keep doing that we're not going to have the kind of season we want.

"We've got to find out who wants to play basketball and who just wants to come to the games. We've got to get people out there who want to play ball."

GEORGETOWN 87, MIAMI 80 (OT): Gerald Riley scored 35 on 13-of-17 shooting for the visiting Hoyas. It was the most points by an individual player against Miami since Georgetown's Allen Iverson scored 38 on March 7, 1996. Miami's Darius Rice, who had 10 rebounds and scored 20, forced overtime with a 3-pointer.

TROY STATE 76, UCF 64: The Knights had their 14-game winning streak end in front of the first sellout crowd at UCF Arena. Dexter Lyons led UCF with 21 points.

BARRY 74, TAMPA 64: The visiting Spartans (12-8, 4-4 SSC) fell behind 22-12 after 10 minutes. James Mereus led Tampa with 19 points.

MICHIGAN STATE 84, INDIANA 72: Paul Davis scored a career-high 32 and the host Spartans put a close game away with a 25-7 run. Michigan State is tied for second in the Big Ten with the Hoosiers, a half-game behind Wisconsin. Bracey Wright led Indiana with 29 points.

IOWA 77, PENN STATE 58: Jeff Horner scored 20, making six 3-pointers, for the host Hawkeyes.

HAWAII 73, TULSA 71 (2OT): Logan Lee made two free throws with 56 seconds left for the visiting Warriors. Down 72-71, the Golden Hurricane had Jarius Glenn miss two free throws with 26.9 seconds left and a pass was knocked away. Anthony Price intercepted an inbounds pass for Tulsa but his 30-footer hit the rim as time expired.

ILLINOIS 67, MICHIGAN 52: Luther Head made five 3-pointers and scored 18 for the host Illini. Head hit two of the 3-pointers during a 13-3 second-half run that turned a three-point game into a double-digit Illini lead with 12:21 to go.

NORTHWESTERN 61, MINNESOTA 47: Jitim Young scored 26 of his career-high 31 in the second half for the host Wildcats.

MISSOURI 62, KANSAS STATE 53: Thomas Gardner scored all but three of his 16 points in the second half, including three 3-pointers, for the host Tigers. Missouri was 1-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half but 6-for-11 the rest of the way.

COLORADO 81, BAYLOR 66: David Harrison scored 26 on 10-of-10 shooting and had 10 rebounds for the host Buffaloes. Harrison's perfect shooting was a school record, eclipsing the 9-of-9 by John Addison against Midwestern State in 1979.

ST. JOHN'S 71, UCLA 55: The host Red Storm made a season-high 10 3-pointers to beat the Bruins for the sixth straight time and end a seven-game losing streak.

RUTGERS 81, NOTRE DAME 70: Freshman Quincy Douby came off the bench for a career-high 24 for the host Scarlet Knights.

DAYTON 74, XAVIER 67: Ramod Marshall scored 21 and made an off-balance 10-foot jumper in the final minute as the Flyers ended a five-game home losing streak against the Musketeers.

UTAH 64, BYU 56: Andrew Bogut scored 17 of his 21 in the second half to lead the Utes back from a 17-point deficit. Utah has won 10 in a row at home over the Cougars.

UMASS 67, RHODE ISLAND 63: Maurice Maxwell's 3-pointer with 25.6 seconds to play broke a tie at 62 for the visiting Minutemen.

In other news, Rhode Island reported six possible rules violations to the NCAA, acknowledging possible violations during the tenures of Jim Harrick and Jerry DeGregorio from 1997-2000.

- Information from Times wires was used in this report.