The Rollins Tars fell to 7-7 overall and 1-4 in the SSC with a 81-73 loss to the Tampa Spartans in SSC action Wednesday night at Warden Arena. With the victory Tampa improved to 11-3 overall and 4-1 in the SSC.
Jeff Merton paced the Tars with 25 points in this one. He is now just 10 points away from the 1,000 point plateau for his career. Merton added five steals in the defeat. Nils Lehmann got his first collegiate start and responded with 10 points on the night- Connor McKim scored nine points which is right on his average for the season- while Jakobi Bonner added seven points and nine rebounds.
Rollins shot 51 percent from the floor in a losing effort- they shot 48 percent (10-21) from the 3-point line. At the free throw line the Tars shot 75 percent (15-20) although they missed two crucial front ends of one and one's in the game's last 2:05. They had 11 assists and 16 turnovers.
The Spartans were led by a 33 point outburst by Marcel Robinson. Robinson picked up the slack for leading scorer Pat Bacon who missed the game due to injury. Robinson drained eight 3-pointer's in the Spartans 11th win in the last 12 contests. Mekhi Biffle was the only other Spartan in double figures with 14. Duke Shelton added eight points and eight rebounds. The Spartans shot 47 percent as a team. They shot 36 percent (13-36) from the 3-point line. At the free throw line they shot 56 percent (10-18.) The Spartans won the rebounding battle 36-29. They had 17 assists and 10 turnovers.
The Rollins coaching staff continues to search for the right combinations and Wednesday was no different. Lehmann got the start in place of Jack Fleming. The teams would go back and forth in the early going. A pair of Lehmann free throws would tie the game at 15 halfway thru the opening half. The Spartans would run off the next 10 points and lead 25-15. The Tars would go on a 16-5 run to take a 31-30 lead after a McKim 3-pointer at the 4:06 mark of the opening half. That would be the last points Rollins would score in the half as Tampa would close the half on a 12-0 run to take a 42-31 lead at the break.
The Tars would come out with a little energy and would get the ball in the post to Mike Bedulskis early in the second half. Rollins would get to within five at the 15:15 mark. The Spartans would answer with another spurt, this time stretching the lead to 14 (61-47) at the 9:21 mark. Rollins was down by 12 (64-52) at the seven minute mark before they went on a 10-0 run, a pair of Merton 3-pointer's and a Merton jumper to cut it to two (64-62.) That is as close as the Tars would get though as they would drop a fourth straight.
Rollins will look to get back in the win column Saturday when they host Palm Beach Atlantic. Tip time at Warden Arena is set for 4 PM. You can catch all the action on the Geico Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on 91.5 FM WPRK Winter Park.
Other SSC scores:
Eckerd 83 Palm Beach Atlantic 74
Florida Tech 109 Embry-Riddle 106
Lynn 80 Florida Southern 56
Saint Leo 62 Nova Southeastern 61
Barry 108 Virgin Islands 92
SSC Standings:
Barry 5-1 (11-1)
Eckerd 4-1 (11-2)
Tampa 4-1 (11-3)
Lynn 3-3 (8-4)
Florida Tech 3-3 (10-5)
Saint Leo 2-3 (7-7)
Florida Southern 2-4 (4-10)
Rollins 1-4 (7-7)
Nova Southeastern 1-5 (4-9)
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