MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- The Buccaneers have hit a standstill. Something's got to change.
Barry lost to rival Lynn, 71-66, Wednesday night in a game that started out so promising. The loss dropped the Bucs to 6-5 overall, 1-2 in the Sunshine State Conference. Lynn improved to 8-4, 1-2.
Barry led by as many as 18 in the first half, but Lynn went on a 17-3 run over the last 5:30 of the first half to cut the gap to four at the break.
The Buccaneers pushed their lead back to nine on Vladimir Raymonvil's jumper at the 13:14 mark of the second half, but the Fighting Knights responded with a 13-0 run to take a four-point lead. Justin McCoy's three-pointer pulled Barry within one with 8:54 left, but Lynn extended its lead back to 10 with 2:03 to go, and the Bucs were playing catch-up.
Barry drew within four after two free throws by McCoy, and then forced a Knights turnover with 17 seconds to play, but the Bucs couldn't convert on the offensive end, and Lynn sank three of its final four free throws to salt the game away.
Barry was outscored 38-29 in the second half when the Bucs went 8 of 25 from the floor. The Buccaneers shot 38.5 percent from the field for the game. Lynn hit 46.7 percent of its shots.
McCoy scored a career-high 29 points, 18 of which came in the first half. He was nine of 16 from the field, including five of 10 three-point goals.
Lynn's Kevin Ohen had 24 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Pavle Raickovic had 13 points and seven boards.
Barry's Chad Renfro scored 18 points and pulled down four rebounds. Bryan Van Cott had nine points and four assists.
The Bucs host Saint Leo at 4 p.m. Saturday.