Tournament Most Outstanding Player Nick Wolf had 26 points and 10 rebounds to power the top seeded Rollins Tars (25-6) to a 75-69 win over the Eckerd Tritons at the Clemente Center in Melbourne. Wolf averaged 24 points and 9 rebounds in three tournament games. The Senior from Cincinnati became the first player in Rollins history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds in a career. Matt Robertson added 12 points. He was also a member of the All Tournament team. Nikola Baran chipped in 11 points for Rollins who earns the SSC's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Lance Kearse led Eckerd with 21 points. John Harper netted 14 for the Tritons (22-8) in a losing effort. Tampa's Rashaad Callaway, Florida Southern's Rion Rayfield and Kearse were also members of the All-Tournament team.
The first half was played fairly evenly by both teams. The Tars opened up a seven point lead (21-14) with nine minutes in the opening half. EC would fight back and get the lead down to three before Ian Scott would nail a three at the halftime buzzer to put the Tars up 34-28.
It would be the Tritons that would come out with energy in the second half. The Tritons would take a 41-40 lead after the opening five minutes of the half. Dale Carn would then be ejected from the game as the fourth referee would catch him after a video review throwing a elbow below the waist. The game would stay even as the Tritons and Tars would be knotted at 54 with 6:48 remaining. Rollins would then go on a 9-2 run capped by a Nikola Baran three pointer that made it 65-56 with 3:33 to go. About a minute earlier a scary moment occurred for Tars fans when Wolf would take a shot to the mouth that would require 8 stitches. Wolf would be right back in the game about a minute later. The Triotns would make one final push in the closing minute after being down 10 (69-59). Woody Taylor and Harper would each hit a three before two Ian Scott free throws would seal it for the Tars. It was Rollins second straight conference title and fourth all time.
Rollins earned the third seed in the South regional in Hunstsville,Alabama. The Tars will face a familar foe when they battle the Mocs of Florida Southern Saturday. The regional matchups look this way:
(1) Alabama-Huntsville vs (8) Clark-Atlanta
(4) Arkansas Tech vs (5) Benedict
(2) Harding vs (7) Stillman
(3) Rollins vs (6) Florida Southern
The South regional will begin Saturday in Hunstville. Times yet to be announced. As always you can catch all the action on RollinsSports.com
No comments:
Post a Comment