By Taylor McGillis, Staff Writer
Saint Leo, Fla—The Saint Leo University men’s basketball team earned a huge conference win on Saturday, Jan. 26 over Sunshine State Conference for Barry University after a strong second half in which it overcame a 9-point halftime deficit. Despite Barry’s hot start and Saint Leo’s meager first-half performance, the Lions came out on top 63-51. The win moved the Lions to 9-9 overall and 3-5 in the SSC.
The Barry Buccaneers came out of the gate quickly to start the game much with the help of shooting guard Evan White, who went 6-8 from the field and 4-6 from beyond the arc, tallying 18 first-half points. The Lions struggled offensively for much of the first half, settling for long 3-point shots, and were never able to establish an inside presence. A big help came when forward Regis Schafer provided a spark off the bench for the Lions as he sunk two shots from 3-point land and kept the Bucs lead a manageable one as the Bucs went into the half with a 34-25 lead.
The second half proved to be much different than the first as Saint Leo got off to a quick start and was able to contain Barry’s White to only 6 points in the half. Along with the stellar defensive performance, the Lions also began to heat up from the field, shooting 56% for the half including five shots from 3-point territory. It was a career night for Schafer as he hit 4-7 shots from behind the arc tallying his career-high with 12 points. Lions leading scorer on the year Trent Thomas continued his ways, leading the team with 15 points, 13 of which he scored in the second half. Barry’s White led all scorers with 24 points.
It truly was a tale of two halves and postgame Head Coach Lance Randall gave his thoughts on the team’s performance and what made the difference in the second half. “I thought we came out in the first half and we looked a little tired and Barry shot the ball well. Evan White did a great job and when you’ve got a player like that, you’ve got to find a way to slow him down. In the second half we did two things–a much better job of protecting the basket, and we also ran our offense better with good ball movement, we screened better and we got good shots. When we didn’t make shots we were on the offensive glass hard and that was a huge part of us getting some separation.”
Barry moved to 9-10 overall and 4-4 in the SSC after the loss. The win over Barry ended a three-game losing streak for the Lions (9-9, 3-5 SSC) who are currently in 8th place with eight games remaining on the year.
