Tars Escape On Merton Game Winner!

The Rollins Tars used a Jeff Merton 3-pointer at the buzzer to escape with a 71-69 victory over the Tampa Spartans at Warden Arena Wednesday. This after the Tars had gone the last 4:25 without a field goal. With the win Rollins improved to 10-7 overall and 6-3 in the SSC. With the defeat Tampa falls to 7-7 and 3-5 in the SSC.
  Rollins was paced by Sam Philpott with 16 points and nine rebounds in this one.  Merton scored 15 on six of eight shooting including the game winner from the top of the key off a Jakobi Bonner pass at the buzzer.  Connor McKim scored 13- and- Jack Fleming continued his hot shooting of late and totaled 11 off the Rollins bench.  The Tars shot 49 percent as a team- 47 percent ( 9-19) from the 3-point line- and- 77 percent (10-13) from the free throw line.  Rollins crushed the Spartans in the rebounding battle 36-24.  They had 15 assists and 17 turnovers as a team.
   The Spartans were led Anthony Gamble who knocked down five 3-pointer's on his way to 17 points.  Pat Bacon was the only other Spartan in double figures with 16- while Alberto Moreno and Mekhi Biffle added nine points each.  The Spartans shot 43 percent from the field- as well as 43 percent (15-35) from the 3-point line.  They shot 60 percent (6-10) from the free throw line.  The Spartans had 16 assists and 12 turnovers.
  The Tars never led by more than seven points in the game. The game had seven ties and 17 lead changes.  Tampa took it's largest lead of the night at five (18-13) with 8:53 in the opening half.  After a Fleming 3-pointer at the 4:49 mark Rollins held a 24-22 lead.  The Tars would be down three late in the half but another Fleming 3-pointer would knot the score at 33 heading to the locker room.
  The Tars would lead 46-41 but the Spartans would go on a 8-0 run to take a 49-46 advantage. The Tars would answer and lead 58-51 with 10 minutes to go.  With 4:10 remaining Rollins still had a seven point edge (66-59.)  Biffle knocked down a 3-pointer, then Rollins got Philpott to split a pair of free throws and the lead stood at five (67-62.) Bacon would trim the lead to three (67-64) with 43 seconds to go.  Again the Tars would split a pair of free throws and the Spartans would get to within 68-67 after a 3-pointer by Gamble with 23 seconds left.  Bacon drew a foul on McKim and would knock down both free throws to give Tampa a 69-68 lead with 7.8 seconds. This set up the final play heroics when Bonner was double- teamed and found Merton at the top of the key for the game winner.
  The Tars will be back in action Saturday when they head to Lakeland to take on Florida Southern. Tip time at Jenkins FieldHouse is set for 730 PM. You can catch all the action on RollinsSports.com
Other SSC Scores:
Barry 102 Florida Southern 80
Lynn 78 Eckerd 74
Florida Tech 88 Saint Leo 83
Embry-Riddle 92 Nova Southeastern 81
SSC Standings:
Barry 7-1 (11-2)
Eckerd 6-3 (13-3)
Rollins 6-3 (10-7)
Nova Southeastern 4-4 (10-4)
Palm Beach Atlantic 4-4 (10-9)
Lynn 4-4 (7-7)
Saint Leo 4-4 (8-11)
Florida Southern 3-5 (9-7)
Tampa 3-5 (7-7)
Florida Tech 3-5 (8-8)
Embry-Riddle 1-7 (7-9)