@CanesHoops Shoots Past Eckerd, 74-58
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Junior guard Sheldon McClellan scored a game-high 24 points to lead the University of Miami men’s basketball team to a 74-58 victory over Eckerd College Thursday night at the BankUnited Center.
Jim Larrañaga Postgame / Sheldon McClellan & Omar Sherman Postgame
Thursday night’s game served as the Hurricanes lone exhibition contest of the year.
McClellan (Houston, Texas) finished the game by connecting on 7-of-10 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Teammates Angel Rodriguez (Cupey, P.R.), Omar Sherman (Duncanville, Texas) and Ivan Cruz Uceda (Madrid, Spain) also scored in double figures as they closed with 11, 10 and 10 points, respectively.
As a team, the Hurricanes’ transition game was on full display as it outscored Eckerd 13-0 in fast break points. In addition, Miami connected on 51 percent of its field goals from the field and limited itself to just nine turnovers over the 40-minute contest.
The Hurricanes jumped out to a 13-5 advantage at the 14:25 mark of the first half. Miami hit three treys during the stretch. Eckerd responded to the Hurricanes quick start as it went on an 11-1 run over the next five minutes to take a 16-14 advantage with 9:20 to play in the first half.
Miami came right back and re-claimed the lead at 20-16 courtesy of a 6-0 push over the next 1:45. McClellan’s thunderous two-hand slam at the 8:10 mark highlighted the Canes’ 6-0 spurt and gave Miami a 18-16 lead.
Over the next four minutes, Eckerd put together another strong run, scoring eight straight points to take a 25-20 advantage with just under five minutes to play.
The Tritons would go to take a 30-29 advantage into the locker room. McClellan led all UM first half scorers with 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting. Redshirt freshman Deandre Burnett also chipped in with six points, connecting on 2-of-3 from the field.
As a team, the Canes shot 42 percent in the opening 20 minutes and held a 16-15 edge over Eckerd on the glass.
Miami came out of the locker room firing as it went on a 10-3 run over the first five minutes of the second half to open up a 39-33 lead with 15:14 to go in the contest. Eckerd scored on its next offensive possession to trim the lead to four (14:35), but that would be as close as the Tritons would get for the remainder of the game.
The Canes’ proceeded to go on a 6-0 run to open up its first 10-point lead of the game. Rodriguez’s layup with just less than 12 minutes to go in the game gave Miami a 45-35 lead.
From there, Miami’s lead never fell below eight points. Miami opened its largest lead of 16 points with 14 seconds to go as McClellan took a pass off the backboard for a two-handed slam to put an exclamation point a second half, which saw the Hurricanes outscore the Tritons 45-28.
The Hurricanes open the year at home against Howard on Nov. 14. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
