Miami Shores, FL | The College of Staten Island Men's Basketball team wrapped up their two-game Florida trip today against Barry University and could not overcome a poor first half from the field in a 100-57 defeat. The Dolphins, having faced two incredibly tough Sunshine State Conference opponents to open the season, drop to 0-2 while the Buccaneers improve to 2-0.
Things got off to a promising start for the Dolphins in their matchup with the Buccaneers as they took an early 10-9 lead following a strong finish by Adeola Latunji on a driving layup just over four minutes into the game. However, the Dolphins then went ice-cold from the floor allowing Barry to quickly build a substantial lead that ultimately proved insurmountable. The Buccaneers would score 24 of the next 28 points to make it 33-14 and the Dolphins would never recover from that run.
Trailing by nineteen, the Dolphins quickly scored on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead back down to fifteen, but they would never get any closer than that. The Buccaneers closed out the first half on an 18-0 run as CSI struggled to connect on the numerous open looks they had from beyond the arc. The result was a first half in which CSI shot 27% from the field and just 8% from three-point range. While the Dolphins couldn't find their shooting stroke, Barry shot 60% from the floor and 39% from downtown.
The second half got off to a much worse start than the first for the Dolphins as the Buccaneers came out of the halftime locker room strong and recorded the half's first seven points. Despite this coupled with a large deficit, the Dolphins continued to battle back and shot the ball more efficiently in the minutes that followed. After a difficult first half, Austin Mick connected on three consecutive shots and Rigaud Destime added back-to-back makes of his own to make it 71-39.
Thirty-two was as close as CSI would get the rest of the way as the Buccaneers began to run the floor and capitalize on their many transition opportunities. These chances came as the result of Dolphins' giveaways which allowed the Buccaneers to finish the game with a 29-11 advantage in points off turnovers. Barry also had 32 fast break points as opposed to only 10 for the Dolphins. Despite the massive disparity on the stat sheet, CSI continued to play hard until the final buzzer, but a 100-point effort from the Buccaneers earned them the lopsided 100-57 victory.
Even with a triple-digit scoring output, the Buccaneers did not have a single player score 20 points and fifteen different players saw action for Barry in the game. Leading the way offensively were Just Marcinkevicius and Tylan Birts who scored 18 and 16 points respectively. Marcinkevicius also grabbed a game-high 13 boards and added three assists. The last of the double-digit scorers for Barry were Johannes Dolven and Evan Walshe while only Latunji and Mick reached the ten-point mark for the Dolphins. Latunji's 15 led the team and Mick added 10 more to go along with 6 assists and 7 rebounds, both team highs. The Dolphins' inability to hit open shots in the first half outweighed a second half which saw them shoot 44% from the field and 33% from three-point range, and those numbers were only enough to bring them to 36% from the floor for the game.
The Dolphins will have two days off before they return to action on Sunday against Southern New Hampshire University. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 PM and the men's game will be the back end of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader.
