Tampa Beats Rival Across the Bay

Tampa, FL. – The University of Tampa Spartans Men's Basketball Team snaps their four-game losing streak to their rival across the bay.

Final: Tampa Spartans 80, Eckerd Tritons 76

Records: Tampa (8-15, 7-10 SSC), Eckerd (9-14, 6-11 SSC)

Location: McArthur Center || St. Petersburg, Fl. 

All-Time Series: Tampa extends their dominance over Eckerd to 58-37.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

FIRST HALF 

After Mykah Brown made a jump shot to start the game, the Tritons scored five straight to take a three-point lead. Jacob Harris would respond with four straight points to put the Spartans up 1. Eckerd would eventually go up 4, but Tampa made back-to-backs 3's by Zach Simpson and Brown to regain the lead. The Spartans wouldn't fall behind despite Eckerd leading for almost the last twelve minutes of the half. They held Eckerd's largest lead to only 4 points for the last twelve minutes and tied it up at 37 before the buzzer went off. | Score: 37-37 Tied

SECOND HALF 

Tampa made their first two shot of 2^nd half to go up 5. After the Tritons cut the lead to 3, Harris and De'Andre Harvey made consecutive layups to go up by 7 points; however, Eckerd would respond with seven straight to tie the game at 49. After back-and-forth play, the Spartans found themselves up four. They continued their excellent play with a 6-0 run to extend the biggest lead of the night between either team to 10. Eckerd cut it to 4 with two minutes left and then to 3 with less than a minute left. Luckily, The Spartans came out on top, though. | Score: 80-76 Tampa

INSIDE THE STATS 

• Four Spartans scored double figures: Senior Mykah Brown (17), Sophomore De'Andre Harvey (16), Junior Jacob Harris (14), and Sophomore Jesse White (14).
• The Spartans shot 58% from the field compared to the Tritons' 47%.
• Tampa shot 83% from the line making 24 of their 29 free throws.

BEYOND THE BOX

• The Spartans had 34 bench points.
• Tampa led for half the game.
• The Spartans had eight different scorers.

UP NEXT: The Spartans will host the #1 team in the country, Nova Southeastern Sharks, this Saturday, February 15^th, at 4:00 PM.

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GAMEDAY MULTIMEDIA: Fans may watch all home games and Sunshine State Conference contests on TampaSpartans.tv. Live stats are also available through TampaStats.com. 

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