Rollins Upended by #5 NSU.

The Rollins Tars (11-10 5-8 SSC) held the top ranked scoring offense in the country to 16+ points under there average Wednesday night but the fifth ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks (17-2 11-2 SSC) upended Rollins 89-85 inside of Warden Arena Wednesday. The two teams split the season series with each winning on the other's home floor.
 RJ Sunahara led four Sharks in double figures with 25 points- Mark Matthews- and- Mikkel Kolstad each netted 18- while Eddie Puisis scored 11. The Sharks shot 50 percent from the field- 38 percent (9-24) from the 3-point line- and- 74 percent (14-19) at the free throw line. The Sharks won the rebounding battle 38-34. They had 23 assists- and- 10 turnovers in the contest.
 Rollins was paced by 22 points from Jakobi Bonner. It was the 13th consecutive game he has scored in double figures. Connor McKim added 18 points and a team high seven assists- Dayton Gumm scored 12- and- Hutton Yenor tallied 10. Trevor Recio had a team leading nine rebounds. Rollins shot 49 percent from the field- 35 percent (8-23) from the 3-point line- and- 77 percent (13-17) at the free throw line. They had 17 assists- and- 12 turnovers as a team.
 The teams went back and forth early as the Tars took a 13-8 lead after a Bonner 3-pointer with 14:32 to go in the opening half. The Sharks would tie the game at 15 after a Matthews basket. Rollins would get back to back McKim 3-pointer's to take a seven point lead (26-19) at the 10:26 mark of the half. NSU would regain the lead 31-30 at the 8:05 mark of the first stanza. NSU would take a 43-39 lead into the locker room.
In the opening half Rollins was led by 11 points from McKim- while Recio added nine- and- seven rebounds. The Tars shot 47 percent from the field- 50 percent (5-10) from the 3-point line- and- 67 percent (6-9) from the free throw line. They had nine assists- and- seven turnovers in the opening stanza.
 Sunahara had 12- and- Matthews eight led Nova in the opening half. They shot 47 percent from the field- 27 percent (4-15) from the 3-point line- and- 83 percent (5-6) from the free throw line. The Sharks led the rebounding battle 17-16 in the first half. They had 13 assists- and- three turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
 The Sharks stretched the lead to 47-39- but the Tars would counter and tie the game at 51 after a Kyle Marion 3-pointer with 15:19 to go. After some back and forth action NSU lead 64-59 halfway though the second stanza. The Tars were down just three (69-66) after a McKim jumper with just under six minutes to go. Rollins would pull within three on several occasions. With 33 seconds left after a Bonner basket it was a two point game. Kolstad and Matthews would hit some clutch free throws down the stretch to avoid the upset.
 Rollins will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Saint Leo. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM. You can catch all the action on 91.5 FM WPRK and Worldwide on RollinsSports.com
Other SSC Scores Wednesday:
Saint Leo 71 Tampa 46
Palm Beach Atlantic 87 Embry-Riddle 86
Florida Southern 97 Lynn 92
Barry 86 Florida Tech 84
SSC Standings:
Florida Southern 12-2 (20-2)
Nova Southeastern 11-2 (17-2)
Barry 10-4 (16-5)
Palm Beach Atlantic 8-5 (15-6)
Saint Leo 8-6 (14-8)
Embry-Riddle 6-8 (14-8)
Rollins 5-8 (11-10)
Lynn 5-9 (9-11)
Florida Tech 4-10 (10-12)
Eckerd 3-10 (7-14)
Tampa 3-11 (6-16)