Rollins Runs Win Streak to Five.

The Rollins Tars rolled to a fifth straight win as they stayed atop the SSC with a 89-66 drubbing of Florida Tech at the Clemente Center Wednesday Night. With the win the Tars improve to 13-7 overall and 9-3 in the SSC. With the loss Florida Tech drops to 10-10 overall and 5-7 in the SSC.
  Reigning SSC Player of the Week Sam Philpott led the Tars with 24 points- Jeff Merton added 21- while Eric Castaneda added 10. Parker Davis also added nine off the Rollins bench. The Tars shot 52 percent as a team- 36 percent (10-28) from the 3-point line- and- 87 percent (13-15) from the free throw line.  The Tars won the rebounding battle 39-36.  They had 16 assists and 12 turnovers as a team.
 The Panthers were led by 22 points from Jordan Majors- Sam Daniel added 15- while Richard Coil scored six. Tech shot 38 percent as a team- 27 percent (10-37) from the 3-point line.  They shot 60 percent (6-10) from the free throw line.  The Panthers had 15 assists and 16 turnovers.
  The Tars led 13-8 in the early going. The Panthers scored the next five to knot the game at 13, before Rollins countered with a 5-0 run capped by a Davis layup that made it 18-13 Tars at the 11:28 mark of the opening half. FIT would get to within one (20-19) before the Tars had a quick 7-0 burst that made it 27-19 after a Castaneda 3-pointer at the 8:14 mark of the half. The Tars would stretch the lead to double digits after a Merton dunk before a Daniels 3-pointer cut the lead to single digits again. Rollins would get a 3-pointer from Jack Fleming right before the half and took a 39-26 lead into the locker room.
 Merton led the Tars with nine points- while Castaneda and Philpott each had seven in the opening 20 minutes. Rollins shot 49 percent in the opening stanza- but went just 3 of 14 from the 3-point line.  They shot 67 percent (2-3) at the free throw line in the opening 20 minutes. The Tars had six assists and five turnovers in the first half.
  FIT was led by Daniels with 12 points- while Majors and Coil had six each in the first 20 minutes. FIT shot 33 percent from the field- 24 percent (4-17) from the 3-point line.  They shot 57 percent (4-7) from the free throw line in the first half. Each team had 19 rebounds. The Panthers had six assists and nine turnovers in the opening stanza.
  Rollins led by 16 at the first media timeout of the second half. That lead would grow to 21 (61-40) after a Merton 3-pointer with 12:25 to go. Rollins would then cruise to victory from that point on and remain in a first place tie.
 Rollins will be back in action Saturday when they host Lynn. Tip time is set for 4 PM at Warden Arena.
Other SSC Scores:
Embry-Riddle 94 Palm Beach Atlantic 74
Lynn 90 Nova Southeastern 86 (OT)
Florida Southern 89 Saint Leo 81
Eckerd 86 Tampa 72
SSC Standings:
Eckerd 9-3 (16-3)
Rollins 9-3 (13-7)
Barry 8-3 (12-4)
Lynn 7-5 (10-8)
Nova Southeastern 6-6 (12-6)
Florida Southern 6-6 (12-8)
Florida Tech 5-7 (10-10)
Saint Leo 5-7 (9-14)
Palm Beach Atlantic 4-8 (10-13)
Embry-Riddle 3-8 (9-10)
Tampa 3-9 (7-11)