The eighth seeded Rollins College Tars (24-10) will battle the top seeded Fighting Falcons of Fairmont State (32-2) in the Elite Eight Opener at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota Wednesday afternoon. Tip time is set for 1 PM Eastern time and can be seen on NCAA.com. Jim "Shooter" Ferro and Nate Weyant will have the call on the Geico Tars Sports Network at 91.5 FM WPRK Winter Park and Worldwide on RollinsSports.com
The Tars who were 8-8 and 2-5 SSC in mid-January have now won 11 straight-and-16- of the past 18 contests. The magical tournament run began in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament as a Connor McKim layup with just three seconds to go gave them a hard-fought win over Lynn. The next game was a tough battle and they beat Eckerd for the first time in three tries this season. In the title game it was another late bucket by McKim that would give them the SSC Tournament title with a win over Palm Beach Atlantic.
Then came the NCAA South Regional. In the opening round the seventh seeded Tars were a overtime winner over second seeded Valdosta State. The next time out was the most complete performance of the tournament in a 27 point drubbing of third seeded Delta State. Then last Tuesday the Tars took down top seeded Alabama-Huntsville 72-68 on there home floor at Spragins Hall. So Rollins is now in the Elite Eight for just the second time in school history. The only other time they were a 88-54 loser to Metro State. They have won six games during the streak by five points or less, while the rest were by double digits.
Rollins comes into Wednesday's contest scoring 81 points a game- while they give up 78.3 a night. Rollins is ninth in all of DII shooting at a 41.7 percent clip from the 3-point line on the season. The Tars are sixth in all of DII with 304 steals as well.
Sam Philpott leads the Rollins box score at 15.1 points per game. The Noblesville, Indiana native averaged 16 a game in the region in Huntsville. Jeff Merton averages 14.8 points per game- while leading the team at 5.6 rebounds a night. Merton was the Most Outstanding Player in the regional, where he averaged 19 points and four rebounds a contest. Joey Galvis adds 10.4 points a night- and has been in the top 10 in the nation all season in steals, as he has 85 for the year including five in the regional championship. McKim has started all but two games for the Tars this season- the Louisville product and SSC Freshman Of The Year averages 10.2 points and a team high 3.8 assists a night.
Fairmont State was the winner of the Atlantic Region. The Fighting Falcons are also making their second trip to the Elite Eight. The Fighting Falcons trip is the first for them since the 1997-98 season. Fairmont State won the Atlantic Region and have been in the nation's top five since September 6th. The Fighting Falcons were a 86-80 winner over Wheeling Jesuit- after knocking off Bowie State and Indiana (PA) in the earlier rounds. Fairmont State, West Liberty and Wheeling Jesuit were all ranked all season long from the Mountain East Conference. The Fighting Falcons lone two losses came to West Liberty. Once at West Liberty in the regular season on February 4th 88-81 and then in the championship game of the Mountain East Tournament in Charleston,West Va 67-65 on March 5th.
The high flying Fighting Falcons offense comes in averaging 96.2 points a game on the season- they are third in the nation in both 3-point attempts (933) and makes (382.) Defensively they had 350 steals on the season and they allow 79.7 points a contest.
A balanced Fairmont State attack is led by MEC Player Of The Year Matt Bingaya who scores 19.4 a night- he also gets 7.3 rebounds a game. He was named a First Team All American on Monday. Thomas Wimbush trails right behind him at 16 points and 6.5 rebounds a night- Wimbush had 26 in the Regional Championship Game. Jason Jolly scores 12.1 points and dishes out 3.1 assists on the year. D'Ondre Stockman has had a solid year and scores 11.1 a game- while Garfield Heights product Vonte Montgomery scores 10.6 a night. Shammgod Wells scores 7.8 a game and dishes out a team leading 5.7 assists a game.
Wednesday will be the first meeting between the two schools of all time. Neither team had a common opponent. The winner will advance to Thursday's Semifinals.
The line presented by JuanBernalSportsbooks.com: Fairmont State by 9.5
Other Elite Eight Lines:
#4 Bellarmine (Pick) vs Colorado School of Mines
#3Lincoln Memorial -5.5 vs #6 Chico State
#2Northwest Missouri St.-7.5 vs #7 St.Thomas Aquinas
Odds to win the National Championship (Also from JuanBernalSportsBooks.com:)
Fairmont State +325
Northwest Missouri State +400
Lincoln Memorial +475
Bellarmine +700
Colorado School Of Mines +700
Chico State +1300
St.Thomas Aquinas +1700
Rollins +2800
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