Tampa Comes Up Short in Comeback Bid Against Eckerd

Box score

TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa men's basketball team fell short in a late-game rally, falling to Eckerd by a score of 87-86. With their third straight loss, UT drops to 16-7 on the year and 9-5 in the Sunshine State Conference while the Tritons are now 17-7 and 9-4 in the conference.

Eckerd led for the majority of the first half, stretching a close game to a 37-23 lead with 3:13 to go until halftime. The Spartans closed the half out on a good note as they outscored Eckerd by a score of 11-0 in the final three minutes before the half.

With Eckerd carrying a seemingly safe 77-67 lead with 2:06 remaining in the game, UT mounted a comeback behind the free throw shooting of Jeremy Black and the ability of Rashad Callaway to draw a pair of fouls in the act of a three point shot.

Trailing 86-83 with three seconds remaining, Callaway connected on a three-pointer that tied the contest at 86-86. The following inbound resulted in a foul against the Spartans, sending Eckerd's Chris Gray to the free throw line. After missing the first free throw, Gray connected on the second to hold off the Spartan comeback bid.

Tampa, who outscored Eckerd 19-10 in the final two minutes of regulation, had 12 points in the span from Callaway. Black added four points while Chris King also connected on a three-pointer to aide Tampa's effort.

Black finished the game with a career high 37 points as he connected on 10-14 field goals and 17-21 from the free-throw line. He also registered 11 rebounds to lead UT.

Callaway and King each had 17 points while Chris Evans shared team honors in rebounds with Black as he also grabbed 11 boards. Johnathan Ball led UT with seven assists while Callaway, Evans and Jason Baker each had two steals.

Tampa will not play again until it heads to Lakeland to meet SSC rival Florida Southern on Wednesday, February 27.