Wright performance, wrong result
Box Score
TAMPA, Fla. --
Sheldon Wright is beginning to establish himself as one of the top shooters in the country. Unfortunately, his outstanding performance was unable to propel Miles to victory Sunday afternoon.
Wright went 10-of-11 from the field and scored a career-high 31 points but the Golden Bears were unable to hold on to a second half lead as Eckerd (9-2) came from behind to post a 95-86 win at the Martinez Athletic Center in the first game of the Tampa Classic. The loss was the fifth straight for Miles (2-8), which is 0-3 on its Florida trip with one game to play.
Miles trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half but started to drain some outside shots to get back in the game. Wright knocked down his two triples and
Joshua Johnson was perfect on his three attempts from downtown as the Golden Bears went 5-for-8 from distance in the opening half. Johnson's three with two seconds remaining cut the Eckerd lead to 43-38 at the half.
But the second half saw Wright, a junior from Los Angeles, go off. He drained a 3-pointer with 13:46 to go that gave Miles a 51-48 lead, its first of the game. Another 3-ball on the next possession pushed the advantage to 54-50 seven minutes into the second half. His teammates kept feeding him and he kept drilling jumpers, making his first nine shots - six of them from beyond the 3-point line. - before finally missing with 5:48 to go.
Even though Wright was hot, Eckerd was able to catch an offensive lull by the Golden Bears to take control. With the game tied at 66, the Tritons went on a 13-2 run that put Miles in a big hole with less than five minutes to go. The Golden Bears would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Kevin Walsh had 31 points and Obi Kyei had 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Tritons. Johnson had 13 points and
Shaquille Cook had 10 points and five assists for Miles, who play Tampa Monday at 4:30 p.m.
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