Box Score Rion Rayfield's off-balance jumper at the buzzer from just inside the free throw circle rolled off the rim and the Moccasins saw their hopes of winning the Sunshine State Conference Tournament fall short, as Eckerd held on to post a 70-69 victory in their semifinal game Saturday at Melbourne.
The Moccasins (22-8) almost pulled off a miracle comeback that would have topped last Saturday's come-from-behind effort at Nova Southeastern. In that game, the Moccasins rallied from 11 points down with less than five minutes to play to win 104-103 on Terry Jenkins' basket at the buzzer.
Against Eckerd Saturday, the Moccasins were down by nine, 70-61, with just 1:29 remaining. Rayfield was fouled shooting a three-pointer and made all three free throws to cut the lead to 70-64 with 1:10 left. Following a missed Eckerd shot, Rayfield drilled a three-pointer to trim the margin to 70-67 with 54 seconds left. With Preston Fredrick guarding the inbound play, the Moccasins got a deflection, Rayfield came up with the loose ball and was fouled with 40 seconds left.
Rayfield made both free throws to make it 70-69. Eckerd turned the ball over again, as Fredrick made a steal on the inbound pass and the Moccasins called a timeout with 35 seconds to go.
The Moccasins elected to go for the last shot, but no one could get open for a clear shot and Rayfield was forced to put up his shot at the buzzer that missed.
Three-point shooting and free throw shooting, two of the Moccasins' primary offensive weapons, both were ineffective against the Tritons. FSC shot 31.7 percent from the field (19-60) and 26.3 percent from three-point range (5-19), both season lows. They did shoot 72.2 percent from the free throw line, but missed 10 (26-36).
Rayfield scored a game-high 23 points, including 10-11 from the free throw line. Damon Ellison was the only other Moccasin in double figures with 12.
John Harper led a quartet of Tritons in double figures with 11 points. Lance Kearse, Dale Carn and Quincy Okolie each had 10 points.
The Tritons shot 50.0 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Moccasins 46-33.
Whether the Moccasins' postseason continues is in the hands of the NCAA Division II selection committee. FSC was ranked fifth in this week's South Region poll. The selection of the eight teams for the NCAA South Regional will be announced Sunday night at 10 p.m. at www.ncaa.com.
Eckerd (22-7) plays the winner of the Tampa-Rollins semifinal game for the SSC Tournament championship at 3:30 p.m. Sunday. The game will be broadcast live on Bright House Sports Network (Channel 47).
