ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Saint Leo men's basketball traveled to Eckerd College to open up Sunshine State Conference play and fell 83-69 inside the McArthur Center. The Lions saw four players score in double-figures led by Ty Forman, who notched his career-high 17 points, in 21 minutes of action.
 
Forman went 6-for-12 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free throw line to lead the Lions' scorers. Saint Leo (2-5, 0-1 SSC) saw Kyran McClure come up just short of Forman's total with 15 points, going 5-of-13 from the field including 2-of-6 from downtown, and adding 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
 
Isaiah Hill added 11 points for the Lions while Junior Searcy notched 10 to round out the double-digit scorers for the Green and Gold.
 
Eckerd (8-1, 1-0 SSC) saw Drushaun McLaurn notch a game-high 36 points on 13-for-19 shooting. McLaurn opened the night going 10-for-10 from the field before cooling off, going 3-for-9 over the final nine attempts. Myron Hagins added 18 points for the Tritons while Marco Behori chipped in with 12.
 
How It Happened

• Eckerd tipped off the game with a 6-2 lead before Saint Leo tied things at 6-6, using a 4-0 run while forcing two straight Triton turnovers.
• After trailing 11-8 at the first media timeout, Saint Leo battled back to take a 16-13 lead before Eckerd pushed to a 17-16 lead with 11:40 on the clock.
• Eckerd pushed their lead to nine, 27-18 with eight minutes to play before a 12-point lead at the 2:37 mark.
• The Lions cut it to seven points at the break on a tip-in with Ty Forman, 40-33.
• Saint Leo came out of the break and rallied to cut the lead to one point, 43-42 on a Junior Searcy alley-op from Kyran McClure.
• Eckerd extended it to a 52-42 lead with a 9-0 run with 15 minutes to go in regulation.
• The Tritons would keep it double-figures for the next 13 minutes, aside from when the Lions cut it to nine, 60-51 on a Pape Ngom layup with 10 minutes remaining.
• Saint Leo cut it to six points twice with two minutes to go, 71-65 on a Kyran McClure jumper and 73-67 on two Labis Filippou's free throws.
• Eckerd's shooting would keep Saint Leo at bay as the Lions came up short on the road, 83-69

Up Next
Saint Leo returns to the hardwood on Dec. 1 in West Palm Beach, Fla. when the Green and Gold take on Palm Beach Atlantic at 6 p.m.

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