The Florida Tech Panthers stole a victory literally and figuratively from the Rollins Tars on Saturday. A turnover that led to a steal and bucket in the waning seconds led to the Tars falling 75-72 to Florida Tech on Saturday. With the loss Rollins falls to 17-7 overall and 9-4 in the SSC. The loss snaps a six game win streak for the Tars. FIT won for just the fourth time in the last 13 games, as they improved to 13-12 and 5-9 in conference.
Sam Daniel led the Panthers and all scorers with 29 points on the day. Daniel nailed seven of his 15 3-point attempts- Corbin Jackson scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds- while Jordan Majors chipped in 13 for Florida Tech. The Panthers shot 45 percent (27-60) on the day, including 33 percent (12-36) from the 3-point line. FIT shot 82 percent (9-11) from the free throw line in the game. The Panthers had 20 assists and 13 turnovers as a team.
Rollins was led by a 22 point effort from Jeff Merton- Sam Philpott also scored in double figures with 18- James Ferrell added nine- while Deion Clark scored eight to go along with a career high 12 rebounds.
The Tars shot 44 percent (27-61) in the game- they shot 29 percent (10-34) from the 3-point line. The Tars were right on there season numbers at the free throw line as they shot 80 percent (8-10.) Rollins dominated the rebounding battle out rebounding FIT 41-29. They had 22 assists and turned the ball over 18 times.
As has been the case for the 36 years since Tom Klusman has been the coach Rollins started all their seniors on Senior day. A ceremony was held prior to the game to honor Sharif Almulla, James Ferrell, Kyle Koszuta, and Alex Blessig. Once the game started it was very evident that the starting five from Saturday had not played together before. Before you could blink Rollins trailed 15-0 and were down by 28 (29-1) eight minutes into the contest. The Tars would answer with a 33-5 run of their own to knot the game at 34 with 45 seconds left in the opening half. A Jackson bucket late would give the Panthers a two point lead (36-34) at the half.
The Panthers would come out and stretch the lead to seven in the early stages of the second half before the teams would battle for the next 10 minutes. Rollins, after tying the game a couple times would take what would be their first lead of the game at the 6:35 mark after a Joey Galvis layup. Galvis would not be able to complete the old fashioned 3-point play after he was fouled. The two teams would continue to trade blows. At the 2:01 mark the game would be tied at 69 before Merton would nail a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Rollins what would be the biggest lead of the game at 72-69. The Panthers would cut it to one after an offensive rebound. Rollins would have the ball up one with 16 seconds to go and a costly turnover underneath the basket would lead to a Panthers layup that would ultimately be the game winner. Ferrell would have a chance to atone for his mistake at the other end but his runner in the lane would bounce off the back rim. FIT would seal it with a pair of free throws. Rollins would not get a shot off to tie it as another turnover would lead to the Panthers victory.
Rollins will be back in action Wednesday when they host #12 Barry. Tip time at Warden Arena is set for 730 PM. 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:
Eckerd 74 Lynn 70
Tampa 81 Palm Beach Atlantic 67
Nova Southeastern 105 Barry 91
Embry Riddle 96 Saint Leo 56
SSC Standings:
Barry 10-3 (18-4)
Eckerd 10-3 (20-5)
Rollins 9-4 (17-7)
Saint Leo 8-5 (15-9)
Florida Tech 5-9 (13-12)
Nova Southeastern 5-9 (10-13)
Tampa 4-8 (9-14)
Lynn 4-9 (10-12)
Florida Southern 4-9 (9-15)
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