At first glance you would say the Rollins Tars lost another tough close game when you saw the 82-71 final score. In this one the game was not nearly as close as the score indicated. The Tars trailed by 21 with three minutes thirty-four seconds to go and went on a 15-1 run to cut the lead to seven but would ultimately lose by 11 at Warden Arena.
Rollins (7-11 0-7 SSC) has now lost six straight. Sharif Almulla paced the Tars with 15 points- James Ferrell added a career high 11- while Kyle Koszuta chipped in 10. The group that does much of the scoring had a rough day for the Tars Saturday. Alex Blessig whose play usually sums up the result of most Tars games had a rough night. The transfer from Florida Gulf Coast had five points and six turnovers in 16 minutes. The other three starters (Uhle, Merton and Dirkin) notched seven points each.
The Tars shot 37 percent as a team- 41 percent from the 3 point line- and shot at a 69 percent clip (11-16) at the free throw line. Rollins had 19 assists and nine turnovers.
Tampa (11-6 4-3 SSC) was led by Austin Rettig who poured in a game high 25 points- Tyler Zacur came off the bench and drained five first half 3-pointer's to account for his 15 points- while Eugene McCrory added 14 in just 22 minutes of action.
The Spartans shot 49 percent from the field- 41 percent from the 3-point line- and 67 percent (12-18) from the free throw line. The Spartans dominated the rebounding battle 46-28. They had 19 assists and 15 turnovers.
The Tars scored the first bucket of the game on a 3-pointer by Almulla just over a minute in. They would have a early 8-7 lead but that would be the last lead of the game for Rollins. Tampa would then take control with a 13-2 run that would give them a 10 point lead (20-10.) at the 11 minute mark of the opening half.
Tampa would lead by as many as 15 in the first 20 minutes and would take a 12 point lead (40-28) at the half.
The second half would be more of the same. Tampa would stretch the lead to as many as 21 points (74-53) at the 3:34 mark. The Tars would make a late 15-1 push behind the guard play of Ferrell and Koszuta to get to within seven (76-69) at the 1:01 mark. The Tars would have a chance to get to within four but a 3-pointer was off the mark and after a pair of Spartans missed free throws Rollins was not able to grab a rebound and the Spartans would grab the victory.
The Tars will be back in action Wednesday when they head to Lakeland to take on the sixth ranked Mocs of Florida Southern. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM at Jenkins FieldHouse.
Other SSC Scores:
Barry 111 Eckerd 108 (2 OT)
Palm Beach Atlantic 60 Saint Leo 43
Florida Southern 87 Lynn 77
Florida Tech 77 Nova Southeastern 74
SSC Standings:
Barry 7-0 (15-1)
Florida Southern 6-1 (17-1)
Lynn 5-2 (12-4)
Tampa 4-3 (11-6)
Saint Leo 3-4 (11-8)
Eckerd 3-5 (9-8)
Florida Tech 2-5 (12-6)
Nova Southeastern 2-5 (6-10)
Rollins 0-7 (7-11)
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