Just call it home away from home. Having lost five of it's last six the Rollins Tars just needed a trip to a familiar place to pick up another victory. With a 89-74 win over Florida Tech at the Clemente Center on Wednesday night the Tars are now 3-0 on the home court of Florida Tech this season (they beat Paine and Clark-Atlanta there to start the season.) With the win Rollins improved to 11-5 overall and 4-3 in the Sunshine State Conference. Florida Tech fell to 10-6 overall and 3-3 in the SSC.
Rollins was led by Jeff Merton, who scored 20 of his career high 28 points in the second half to pace the Tars- James Ferrell and Mike Bedulskis would add 14 points each. Nine of the 11 Rollins players who saw action Wednesday scored. The Tars shot the ball extremely well from everywhere on Wednesday night. They shot 59 percent (30-53) from the field- they shot 47 percent (8-17) from the 3-point line- as well as shooting 75 percent (21-28) from the free throw line. The Tars would be even on the boards with a very good rebounding Florida Tech team (30 rebounds each.) The Tars would have 19 assists and 14 turnovers.
The Panthers were led by 25 points from Corbin Jackson- he nearly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Jordan Majors netted 15 points- while Randy Echols would hit four 3-pointers en route to his 14 point night. The Panthers shot 48 percent (27-56) from the field- they shot 41 percent (11-27) from the 3-point line- as they have all season long the Panthers struggled at the free throw line where they shot 56 percent (9-16.) FIT had 17 assists and also turned it over 17 times.
Florida Tech would start out the game taking a six point lead (8-2) after a pair of 3-pointer's early. FIT would lead by as many as 11 (23-12) midway thru the opening half. Rollins would fight back and take a one point lead (32-31) at the 3:26 mark of the half after a Eric Castenada layup. Rollins would carry a four point lead (40-36) into the intermission.
The second half would be tightly contested in the early going as well. The Tars would lead by three (47-44) four minutes into the half. The next six minutes would see six lead changes as the Tars would have a one point lead with nine minutes to go. Merton would then take over. The Naples native would score nine straight points and spark a 11-0 Rollins run that would give them a commanding 12 point lead (77-65) at the 6:41 mark. FIT would get to within nine at the 3:09 mark but that is as close as they would get as the Tars would cruise to the victory.
Rollins will be back in action when they face Palm Beach Atlantic at 4 PM inside Warden Arena. The Sailfish are one of two provisional members of the Sunshine State Conference along with Embry-Riddle. They play each team in the conference twice but are not a member yet. You can catch all the action on the Geico Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and on 91.5 FM WPRK Winter Park.
Other SSC Scores:
Saint Leo 99 Embry Riddle 92
Eckerd 70 Lynn 56
Barry 89 Nova Southeastern 86
Palm Beach Atlantic 78 Tampa 69
SSC Standings:
Eckerd 7-0 (15-1)
Barry 5-1 (12-2)
Saint Leo 4-3 (11-6)
Rollins 4-3 (11-5)
Florida Tech 3-3 (10-6)
Florida Southern 3-3 (7-9)
Lynn 2-6 (7-7)
Nova Southeastern 1-4 (5-8)
Tampa 0-6 (4-11)
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