For the second time this season the Rollins Tars got all they could handle from the Nova Southeastern Sharks. This time around it was a 78-75 win over NSU for Rollins. With the victory the Tars improve to 16-6 overall and 8-3 in the SSC. After the defeat NSU drops to 9-12 overall and 4-8 in the conference.
Rollins was led by leading scorer on the season Jeff Merton. Merton bounced back from a rare poor scoring output on Wednesday to lead all scorers with 23 points. He also put the game away for the Tars on the defensive end with a pair of steals in the game's last minute. Sam Philpott continued to impress with 15 points off the bench. Deion Clark just missed a double-double (12 points and nine rebounds.) Joey Galvis came up big for the second time in as many match-ups with NSU. The Tampa Jesuit product scored 11 points and iced the game with two free throws with three seconds to go. Rollins shot 41 percent (25-61) in the game. They shot at a 80 percent clip (16-20) from the free throw line- while making 12 of 35 from the 3-point line (34 percent.)
NSU was led by the duo of Chris Page and Harrison Goodrick. Page had 22 in just 26 minutes- while Goodrick added 21 of his own. The Sharks shot 43 percent from the floor (27-63) in the game. They shot at a 31 percent clip (11-36) from the 3-point line- and- shot 77 percent (10-13) from the free throw line. The Sharks won the rebounding battle 41-35. They had 17 assists and 15 turnovers.
It was NSU who got off to the quick start in this one. They would have a seven point lead (21-14) at the 10:41 mark of the opening half. Rollins would have an answer though. The Tars would go on a 17-2 run to take a 31-23 lead with 4:36 in the opening half. The lead would shrink to two (39-37) after a pair of a Page 3-pointer's right before halftime.
The Sharks would tie the game on three separate occasions but Rollins would never trail in the second stanza. The lead was between two and eight for most of the second half. The Tars led by eight (72-64) after a Galvis 3-pointer at the 3:09 mark. Another Page 3-pointer at the 2:20 mark would pull NSU within four (72-68.) The Tars would stretch the lead back to six at the two minute mark after a Philpott basket. 53 seconds later Dwayne Gibson would drain a 3-pointer to cut the Rollins lead to one (74-73.) After a steal by Page the Sharks would have the ball with a chance to take the lead but Merton would get a big steal at the 30 second mark. Deion Clark would miss the front end of a one and one but once again Merton would get in the passing lane with 12 seconds left. Merton would make both free throws to give Rollins a three point lead. A Casey Carroll dunk at the three second mark would pull NSU within one. After a Rollins timeout Galvis would hit a pair of free throws to win it. Page had a desperation heave from half court to tie it but it would be off the mark and the Tars would secure the victory.
Rollins will be back in action Wednesday night when travel to the Jenkins FieldHouse. Tip time from Florida Southern is set for 7:30 PM.
Other SSC Scores:
Tampa 65 Eckerd 52
Saint Leo 93 Lynn 90
Florida Tech 82 Florida Southern 79
Barry 116 Palm Beach Atlantic 92
SSC Standings:
Barry 9-2 (17-3)
Eckerd 9-3 (18-5)
Rollins 8-3 (16-6)
Saint Leo 8-5 (15-8)
Florida Tech 4-8 (12-11)
Lynn 4-8 (10-10)
Nova Southeastern 4-8 (9-12)
Florida Southern 4-8 (9-14)
Tampa 3-8 (7-13)
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