Merton Does It Again!

For the second time in January the Rollins Tars used a Jeff Merton 3-pointer to get a victory. The near carbon-copy of the Tampa buzzer beater Merton hit his top of the key 3-pointer at the buzzer and the Tars escaped with a 64-63 win. With the win Rollins in now 10-3 and in first place in the SSC with an overall record of 14-7. With the loss Lynn dropped to 10-9 and 7-6 in the SSC.
 Merton was the only Rollins player in double figures with 18 points. Eric Castaneda and Connor McKim each scored nine in the victory- Deion Clark had eight- and- Sam Philpott only had six. The Tars shot 46 percent as a team- 39 percent (7-18) from the 3-point line- and- 56 percent (9-16) from the free throw line.  They had 12 assists and eight turnovers as a team.
  Rasheed Worrell led the Fighting Knights with 18 points- Michael Baez scored 14- and- Brandon Bornelus had 11. Lynn shot 38 percent from the floor- 26 percent (8-31) from the 3-point line- and- 61 percent (11-18) from the free throw line.  The Fighting Knights won the rebounding battle 35-34. They had 11 assists and six turnovers.
  It was an evenly played game much of the way. It was 21-20 in favor of Lynn with seven minutes to go in the opening half. The Tars took a brief lead before Lynn went up 31-27 with 1:06 in the half. Merton hit a 3-pointer late in the first half and it would be a 31-30 Rollins deficit at halftime.
   The Fighting Knights had a seven point lead (53-46) a little more than halfway thru the second half. Rollins clawed back into it on a McKim 3-pointer and six straight points by Clark to knot the game at 55 with 6:27 to go. Rollins would get a brief 58-57 lead with 5:10 to go but the Fighting Knights looked to be in control leading 62-58 four minutes later. A Merton 3-pointer would get the Tars within one in the final minute. After neither team scored on consecutive trips the Tars were forced to foul down one with six seconds to go. Baez hit the first free throw then missed the second Merton grabbed the rebound, got the ball to McKim who found Merton who drained the buzzer beater to win it.  Rollins will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Embry-Riddle. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM
Other SSC Scores:
Nova Southeastern 87 Tampa 77
Palm Beach Atlantic 86 Florida Southern 79
Barry 75 Eckerd 73
Saint Leo 75 Embry-Riddle 60
SSC Standings:
Rollins 10-3 (14-7)
Barry 9-3 (13-4)
Eckerd 9-4 (16-4)
Nova Southeastern 7-6 (13-6)
Lynn 7-6 (10-9)
Florida Southern 6-7 (12-9)
Saint Leo 6-7 (10-14)
Florida Tech 5-7 (10-10)
Palm Beach Atlantic 5-8 (11-13)
Embry-Riddle 3-9 (9-11)
Tampa 3-10 (7-12)