Rollins Halts Skid Saturday.

The Rollins Tars stopped a four game losing slide with a 59-47 win over Palm Beach Atlantic in Sunshine State Conference action at Warden Arena on Saturday. With the victory the Tars improved to 8-7 on the season and 2-4 in the SSC. While the loss dropped PBA to 7-7 and 3-4 in the SSC.
  Eric Castaneda led the Tars with three 3-pointer's en route to his 11 points- while Joey Galvis added 10 points and added six more steals to his Sunshine State conference leading total- Jeff Merton had nine points and seven rebounds. Merton now has 999 points in his Rollins career.  Rollins shot 40 percent as a team in this one. They went 9-25 (36 percent) from the 3-point line.  They were a solid 83 percent (10-12) from the free throw line.  The Tars edged the Salifish on the boards 32-31.  They had 15 assists and 21 turnovers.
  Bakari Warthen was the only PBA player in double figures with 10. Leading scorer De'Ondre Jackson missed the game with injury- while Shavano Cooper tallied eight points on the day. PBA could not solve the Rollins zone in this one. They shot just 39 percent in the contest- as well as going just 4-20 (20 percent) from the 3-point line.  The "Fish were a putrid 7-15 (47 percent) from the free throw line in defeat.  They had 11 assists and 24 turnovers.
  PBA would score the game's first basket before Rollins scored the next eight points over a three minute span. The Tars would stretch the lead to 10 (17-7)  at the 12 minute mark and then Philpott would convert a Connor Mckim steal to make the margin (19-7.)  Then a three minute drought by the Tars would see the Sailfish get to within six (21-15) at the 6:28 mark. The Sailfish would go the last three minutes of the half without a field goal and the Tars would take a eight point lead (31-23) into the locker room.
  The Tars would come out strong in the first four and a half minutes of the second half and stretch the lead to 14 (41-27) on a Philpott put back with 15:39 to go.  Trey Koonce would hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 11 (41-30) on the ensuing possession. Rollins would clamp down on the defensive end as the Sailfish would not make a field goal for the next seven minutes and the Tars would open up a 16 point lead (48-32) with 7:57 to go.  The "Fish would not go quietly as they would cut it to single digits (52-43) with 2:12 to go but that is as close as they would get.  Jack Fleming would hit a pair of free throws and Castaneda would nail a 3-pointer to seal the victory.
  The Tars will be back in action Wednesday when they head to the "Shark Tank" to take on Nova Southeastern. Tip time is set for 7:30 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:
Tampa 79 Saint Leo 67
Florida Southern 77 Nova Southeastern 74
Barry 97 Eckerd 95 (2 OT)
Embry-Riddle 75 Lynn 71
SSC Standings:
Barry 6-1 (12-1)
Tampa 5-1 (12-3)
Eckerd 4-2 (11-3)
Florida Tech 3-3 (10-5)
Lynn 3-3 (8-5)
*Palm Beach Atlantic 3-4 (7-7)
Florida Southern 3-4 (5-10)
Rollins 2-4 (8-7)
Saint Leo 2-4 (7-8)
Nova Southeastern 1-6 (4-10)
*Embry-Riddle 0-0 (9-5)
Note: * means the team is a provisional member of the SSC. The Palm Beach Atlantic games count in the conference standings while the Embry-Riddle games do not.