ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Bucs couldn't make it a trifecta.
Barry men's basketball team lost in the first round of the Sunshine State Conference quarterfinals Wednesday at host Eckerd College, 71-62. It was the third meeting between the two schools this year, -- Barry winning the previous two, including a thrilling victory at Eckerd a week-and-a-half earlier.
But the host Tritons found a third-time's-a-charm magic to advance to Saturday's SSC semifinals in Lakeland.
Barry, which capped its season with a 12-16 record, trailed by a point at halftime.
Derrick Bolanos sank a pair of free throws in the opening minutes of the second half to put the Bucs in front, 38-37. Justin McCoy drilled a jumper in the lane to pad Barry's lead to three. But Eckerd (19-7) went on a 10-0 run to build a seven-point lead before McCoy scored to stop the bleeding at the 12:21 mark.
Barry kept it within six on Jermaine Edwards' layup with 8:25 to play, but the Bucs never drew any closer.
The Buccaneers shot 40.7 percent from the field, while Eckerd hit 45.3 percent of its shots .Barry was six of 19 (31.6 percent) from beyond the three-point line, and held the Tritons to 18.8 percent shooting from long range.
Barry's Evan White scored 15 points, hitting six of 12 field goals including a pair of threes, in his final collegiate game. Freshman center Emory Bennett and McCoy each had 10 points. Chad Renfro and Edwards scored nine apiece. Renfro pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
Eckerd's Lance Kearse had 16 points and nine boards, and Walade Wade had 13 points and six rebounds.
White wrapped up his Buccaneers career with 806 points, 232 rebounds, 145 three-pointers (fourth in school history), a .345 three-point field goal percentage and an .817 free throw percentage (third in school history).