Rollins Rolls Past Saint Leo

 The Rollins College Tars got 20 points and 11 rebounds from Omar Figueroa, William Jobe and Mayson Quartlebaum each had 12, while Ricky Ghedini scored 11, and Jah Nze tallied 10 in a 80-63 win against Saint Leo at the Marion Bowman Center on Saturday. With the win Rollins improved to 11-8 and 5-6 in the SSC. Owen Palokowsi scored 22, Matt Ansah and Luther Smith each had 11, while Donovan Hill tallied 10. With the loss Saint Leo falls to 6-13 and 1-10 in the SSC. 

The teams traded buckets early on. After Saint Leo took a 13-9 lead Rollins went on a quick 5-0 spurt as Jobe made a layup and Figueroa knocked down a triple to put the Tars up 14-13 with 11:33 left in the half. Anther Figueroa triple stretched the lead to six but that lead was quickly erased. After a Jobe layup at the 3:26 mark of the half the game was tied at 29. After Smith put the Lions on top Rollins finished the half on a 8-0 run capped by a Figueora jumper at the buzzer that gave Rollins all the momentum and a 37-31 lead heading into the locker room. Rollins shot 42.9 percent in the first half, 21.4 percent (3-14) from the 3-point line, and 66.7 percent (4-6) from the free throw line. Saint Leo shot 32.4 percent from the field, 31.3 percent (5-16) from the 3-point line, and 66.7 percent (4-6) from the free throw line in the opening stanza. 

 After a Jackson Gaffney layup the Tars had a 46-33 lead with 16:46 on the clock. Rollins stretched the lead to 15 on a pair of occasions and led 56-41 after a Michael Niemann 3-pointer with 10:19 to go. Back to back treys got the Rollins lead down to single digits but they got the lead back to 15 again (64-49) after a Ghedini trey and a Figueroa hoop gave them a 17 point lead (66-49) with 7:02 to go. Rollins led by double digits until an Ansah dunk made it 70-61 with 2:00 on the clock. Nine was the closest the Lions would get the rest of the way (one more time) and Rollins picked up the road win. Rollins shot 50.9 percent from the field, 35 percent (7-20) from the 3-point line, and 79 percent (15-19) from the free throw line. They won the rebounding battle 40-33. They had 16 assists and seven turnovers in the contest. 

 Saint Leo shot 37.1 percent from the field, 33.3 percent (10-30) from the 3-point line, and 53.8 percent (7-13) from the free throw line. They had 14 assists and eight turnovers in the loss. 

Rollins will be back in action on Wednesday when they take on Lynn at Warden Arena. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM. 

Other SSC Scores Saturday: 

Nova Southeastern 103 Palm Beach Atlantic 82 

Florida Tech 95 Tampa 81 

Embry-Riddle 80 Eckerd 74 

Florida Southern 99 Lynn 73 

SSC Standings: 

Nova Southeastern 10-1 (15-1) 

Palm Beach Atlantic 9-2 (17-2) 

Florida Southern 8-3 (16-5) 

Embry-Riddle 6-5 (9-9) 

Rollins 5-6 (11-8) 

Lynn 5-6 (10-8) 

Barry 4-6 (9-9) 

Eckerd 4-7 (10-8) 

Tampa 4-7 (10-8) 

Florida Tech  4-7 (8-11) 

Saint Leo 1-10 (6-13)