BOCA RATON, Fla. – Barry University men’s basketball team held on to beat an improved Lynn squad, 82-78, Wednesday night. The win improved the Buccaneers’ record to 18-7, 8-7 in the Sunshine State Conference.
Lynn fell to 8-17, 2-13 in the league. Barry sits in three-way a tie for fourth in the conference with Rollins and Nova Southeastern – all sporting 8-7 league marks – with one game remaining Saturday.
Barry will play at Florida Tech at 4 p.m. Saturday.
“Lynn is playing a lot better basketball than they were earlier in the season,” Barry coach Butch Estes said. “Here on their home court, I didn’t expect anything less. I’m really proud of the way our kids performed, particularly down the stretch.”
Herb Thomas put the Fighting Knights ahead 78-76 on a basket with 53 seconds left. Barry’s Deric Hill canned a three at the other end to give the Bucs the lead with 35 seconds remaining.
After Barry’s Yunio Barrueta came up with a steal on Lynn’s next possession, Hill missed the front end of a one-and-one. But Lynn’s Brandon Smith missed a field goal as he was falling to the floor, and the Bucs got the rebound with 3.6 seconds left.
Hill sank two free throws with 2.7 seconds left, Lynn turned the ball over and Juan Ferrales hit one with 0.3 on the clock to seal it.
Barry had been in a little bit of a funk over the past three weeks, but bounced out of it by shooting 66.7 percent in the second half to record the fifth win on the road this season.
“You start to worry a little bit about the psyche of the team, but I never noticed in practice,” Estes said. “These guys come out to work hard. I wasn’t as worried as much about us as I was them. I know how much they’ve improved. It was a great win, and now we’ve got one game left in our (regular) season. If we can win that, we might be able to get one of the upper seeds in the tournament.”
Magne Fivelstad had 20 points and two steals, going 6-for-6 from the free throw line, and Ferrales finished with 19 points, six rebounds and two steals.
Lynn shot 55.8 percent from the field, and outrebounded Barry, 30-25. The Bucs forced 20 turnovers on the Fighting Knights.
“Tonight our defense wasn’t as good as it needs to be, but it was better,” Estes said. “So maybe small steps. You walk before you run. As we get ready for next week, certainly defense will be our emphasis.”
Adrian Gonzalez’s breakaway dunk with 12:20 left gave the Buccaneers a 57-52 lead. Lynn’s Fred Landers scored on a putback with 6:12 to play to pull the Fighting Knights within a bucket. Landers sank two free throws with 4:54 mark to tie the game at 68-68, to complete a 9-0 Knights run.
The Fighting Knights hit 11 of 22 threes, while the Buccaneers were 6 of 13 from beyond the arc.
Aaron Harrison had 23 points, and Landers 17 for Lynn. Hill had 13 points, nine assists and two steals for the Bucs. Barrueta scored 14 points, and Gonzalez had 10 points and two steals.
Fivelstad reached 20 points for the third time this season.
“You got to give credit to the little man Deric Hill,” Estes said chuckling. “A lot of those points came right off unbelievable assists. Deric keeps on assaulting that assist record here at Barry University.”
Barry’s next test at Florida Tech won’t be easy.
“Florida Tech has three of the best players in the league,” Estes said. “We were very lucky to win that game at home. It’s going to be their senior night, so there will be a lot of emotion. It’s going to be interesting to see how we respond. If we can go in there and get a win, it’s great momentum going into the tournament.”
BARRY 82, LYNN 78
BARRY (18-7, 8-7 SSC)
FIVELSTAD, Magne 7-8 6-6 20; FERRALES, Juan 6-12 4-6 19; BARRUETA, Yunio 5-8
2-4 14; HILL, Deric 2-8 8-12 13; GONZALEZ, Adrian 5-7 0-0 10; GARNER, Savad
3-6 0-2 6; WILLIAMS, Arie 0-2 0-0 0; SIMOZA, Alvaro 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-52
20-30 82.
LYNN (8-17, 2-13 SSC)
HARRISON, Aaron 8-14 3-3 23; LANDERS, Fred 6-9 4-4 17; CLYBURN, Kaleb 4-6
0-0 10; STAMPLEY, Haki 2-5 0-0 6; THOMAS, Herb 3-4 0-0 6; SOTO, Josh 2-2 0-0
6; THOMAS, Cory 2-2 2-2 6; RAICKOVIC, Pavle 2-3 0-1 4; SCHOLL, Dante 0-0 0-0
0; BIRTS, Michael 0-0 0-0 0; SMITH, Brandon 0-7 0-1 0. Totals 29-52 9-11 78.
BARRY....................... 41 41 - 82
Lynn.......................... 36 42 - 78
3-point goals--BARRY 6-13 (FERRALES, Juan 3-5; BARRUETA, Yunio 2-2; HILL,
Deric 1-3; WILLIAMS, Arie 0-1; GARNER, Savad 0-1; GONZALEZ, Adrian 0-1),
Lynn 11-22 (HARRISON, Aaron 4-7; SOTO, Josh 2-2; STAMPLEY, Haki 2-4;
CLYBURN, Kaleb 2-3; LANDERS, Fred 1-3; SMITH, Brandon 0-3). Fouled
out--BARRY None, Lynn-CLYBURN, Kaleb. Rebounds--BARRY 25 (FERRALES, Juan
6; GARNER, Savad 6), Lynn 30 (THOMAS, Cory 5; HARRISON, Aaron 5; STAMPLEY,
Haki 5; LANDERS, Fred 5). Assists--BARRY 14 (HILL, Deric 9), Lynn 18
(CLYBURN, Kaleb 7). Total fouls--BARRY 14, Lynn 24. Technical
fouls--BARRY-None, Lynn-None. A-629