Rollins Rolls Past Hawaii Hilo

 The Rollins College Tars scored the games first 11 points behind the hot shooting of Jah Nze and never looked back in a 89-69 drubbing of Hawaii Hilo at the Holiday Hoops Classic at South Pointe Arena in Las Vegas Saturday. With the win Rollins improves to 7-4 and 1-3 in the SSC. The Vulcans dropped to 0-8 on the year. 

It took until the 14:59 mark of the first half before the Vulcans got on the board with a pair of free throws by Charles Higby. Nze hit another triple to extend the Rollins lead to 12 (14-2.) After Ryan Renfro converted a layup at the 11:30 mark of the first half the Tars extended the lead to 16 (22-6.) After another Nze trey it was 34-15 in favor of the Tars with 6:50 until halftime. The lead expanded to a game high 21 (38-17) after another Renfro layup with 4:55 left in the half. Rollins took a 21 point lead (48-27) into the locker room. Rollins shot 52.7 percent from the field, 50 percent (8-16) from the 3-point line, and 0-1 at the free throw line in the half. The Vulcans shot 32.3 percent from the field, 9.1 percent (1-11) from the 3-point line, and 6-6 at the free throw line in the first 20 minutes. 

 Rollins extended the lead to 26 (53-27) 1:15 into the second half. The Tars largest lead was 31 (62-31) after a Mayson Quartlebaum layup with 15:32 to go. Rollins would cruise to victory from that point on. Nze knocked down six triples on his way to 22 points, Marshall Klug added 13, Ricky Ghedini tallied 12, and Renfo stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Rollins shot 48.5 percent from the field, 46.9 percent (15-32) from the 3-point line, and 80 percent (8-10) at the free throw line. Rollins won the rebounding battle 44-34. They had 25 assists and 12 turnovers in the contest. 

 Hawaii Hilo was led by Julio Montes with 17, Alex Horiuk added 12 to go along with 11 rebounds, Jessiya Villa had 11, and Jamal Entezami notched 10. The Vulcans shot 39.4 percent from the field, 25 percent (6-24) from the 3-point line, and 91.7 percent (11-12) from the free throw line in the loss. They added eight assists and 10 turnovers in the defeat. 

 Rollins will be back in action Sunday (12/21) when they take on Colorado School of Mines. Tip time is set for 9 PM. 

Other SSC Scores: 

Tampa 79 U Indy 73 

Newberry 94 Embry-Riddle 89 

Claifflin 64 Florida Tech 52 

Bentley 92 Barry 68 

Eckerd 96 St.Thomas Aquinas 61 

Michigan Tech 105 Lynn 67 

Florida Southern 116 Lees Mcrae 70 

Sunday line presented by JuanBernal SportsBooks.com: Rollins by 7 vs Colorado School of Mines 

Other SSC Games Sunday: 

Eckerd @ Indy 

St.Thonas Aquinas @ Tampa 

SSC Standings: 

Palm Beach Atlantic 4-0 (12-0) 

Nova Southeastern 3-1 (8-1) 

Florida Southern 2-1 (10-3) 

Embry-Riddle 2-1 (5-5) 

Lynn 3-2 (8-4) 

Florida Tech 2-2 (6-6) 

Saint Leo 1-2 (6-5) 

Rollins 1-3 (7-4) 

Eckerd 1-3 (6-4) 

Tampa 1-3 (6-4) 

Barry 1-3 (5-6)