Reeling Rollins Falls At Tampa.

The Rollins Tars lost for the third straight game, all by double digits as they fell 75-62 to the University of Tampa at the Bob Martinez Sports Center Wednesday. With the loss Rollins fell to 8-7 overall and 2-5 in the SSC. Tampa improved to 9-5 and 3-3 in the SSC with the victory.
  Rollins had four players tally double figures in the defeat. Connor McKim paced the Tars with 17- Hutton Yenor contributed 13 off the bench- Jakobi Bonner notched 11- and- while Eric Castaneda chipped in 10. Daniel Loh led the Tars on the glass with 10 rebounds. The Tars shot 46 percent from the field as a team- 30 percent (7-23) from the free throw line- as well as shooting 43 percent (3-7) from the free throw line. The Tars had 11 assists and 14 turnovers in the contest.
        The Spartans were led by 23 points from Vincent Biffle- Anthony Gamble notched 22- and- Cedric Belemene posted a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. The Spartans shot 43 percent as a team- 29 percent (8-28) from the 3-point line- and- 68 percent (15-22) from the free throw line. The Spartans crushed the Tars on the glass 41-28. They had 15 assists and 13 turnovers as a team.
 Rollins scored the first bucket of the game on a McKim layup before Tampa tallied the next eight. The Tars would tie the game at eight with under 15 minutes in the opening half. Rollins would not score another basket for nearly seven minutes and Tampa would go on a 13-0 run before a Bonner basket cut the lead to 11 (21-10) at the 8:19 mark of the first half. The lead would be trimmed to single digits before the Spartans would take a 15 point lead (38-23) into the locker room.
 Bonner had seven and McKim six to lead Rollins in the opening 20 minutes. They shot 42 percent as a team- 20 percent (2-10) from the 3-point line- and- 33 percent (1-3) from the free throw line. The Tars had two assists and seven turnovers in the opening half.
  Tampa was led by 14 points from Biffle in the opening stanza- Belemene had seven- while  Gamble and Brendan Baker chipped in six each. The Spartans shot 42 percent from the field in the first half- 40 percent (6-15) from the 3-point line- and- 86 percent (6-7) from the free throw line. The Spartans had nine assists and eight turnovers in the opening stanza.
  The Tars scored the first four points of the second half but the Spartans squashed the chances of a second half comeback early in the stanza. Rollins would make one last run to get to within nine (69-60) after a McKim 3-pointer with 2:52 to go. The Spartans would come away with the win that was there fifth in the past six games.
  Rollins has really struggled offensively as they have now scored 65 points or less in three straight games, all conference losses. The Tars will look to get back on track Saturday when they travel to Saint Pete to take on Eckerd. Tip time is set for 4 PM. As always you can catch all the action on RollinsSports.com and on 91.5 FM WPRK.
Other SSC Scores Wednesday:
Florida Southern 86 Palm Beach Atlantic 72
Lynn 78 Embry-Riddle 74
Saint Leo 71 Florida Tech 57
Eckerd 78 Nova Southeastern 75 (OT)
SSC Standings:
Nova Southeastern 6-1 (12-1)
Lynn 5-1 (12-1)
Barry 5-1 (10-3)
Eckerd 4-2 (11-3)
Florida Southern 4-2 (11-3)
Tampa 3-3 (9-5)
Saint Leo 3-4 (6-9)
Rollins 2-5 (8-7)
Florida Tech 1-5 (7-7)
Palm Beach Atlantic 1-5 (5-9)
Embry-Riddle 1-6 (8-10)