Barry Turns Away Spartans in SSC Meeting

Box score

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. - The University of Tampa (13-6, 1-6 SSC) men's basketball team dropped its sixth game in its last seven tries in a 75-66 loss to Barry University (8-8, 2-5 SSC) in Sunshine State Conference play.

Barry led by as many as 12 points in the first half as Tampa outscored the Buccaneers 12-5 over the final nine minutes of the initial half to trail by a 28-23 margin at the break.

UT scored the first seven points of the second half, taking a brief 30-28 lead before the Bucs responded with a 13-2 run of their own to grab a nine point advantage. Barry added to its lead, going up 15 points before the Spartans cut into the lead in the final minutes of play.

With under a minute to play, Tampa chipped the deficit down to seven points, though Barry would proceed to score on its next two possessions to seal the SSC victory.

Da'Markco Foster scored a season-high 34 points to lead all scorers as Anthony Griffis turned in 14 points for the Spartans. Austin Rettig added eight points as he teamed with Foster and Griffis to account for 56 of Tampa's 66 points on the day.

Stefon Barfield came off the bench to grab a team-high nine rebounds. The Spartans shot just 32.3 percent from the field as the Bucs came in at a 52.1 clip. UT held a significant advantage on the boards, outrebounding the Bucs 42-31 with 22 offensive rebounds included.

Tampa returns home for a midweek test against Florida Tech, with the Wednesday contest set to tip at 7:30 p.m. Live stats and a webcast will be available through TampaSpartans.tv.

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