The 2025-26 season had not gone anywhere close to according to plan going into Wednesday night. The Rollins College Tars had their backs against the wall trying to secure a spot in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament. The opponent, #1 Nova Southeastern had won 98 straight games at Rick Case Arena before Wednesday. Rollins gave the Sharks all they could want, as they led 68-67 with 1:50 to go but the Sharks did what championship teams do, scoring the games final seven points to pick up the 75-69 win. With the loss Rollins regular season concludes at 13-15 and 7-13 in the SSC. NSU improves to 23-1 and 18-1 in the SSC with a 17th straight win.
NSU jumped all over the Tars early as they scored the games first 9 points. Rollins finally got on the board on a Mayson Quartlebaum layup at the 16:19 mark of the first half. A 10-0 Sharks run would stretch the lead to 17 early. It was 28-13 NSU before Michael Kalina made a triple to cut that lead to 12 (28-16) Rollins would continue to get contributions from unlikely sources as little used Cheo James knocked down a trey to make it a seven point game (33-26) with 7:42 in the first half. The lead was cut to five by Rollins but NSU stretched it to seven (43-36) at halftime. Rollins shot 50 percent from the field, 40 percent (6-15) from the 3-point line, and 80 percent (4-5) at the free throw line in the half. NSU shot 47.5 percent from the field, 15.4 percent (2-13) from the 3-point line, and 3-3 at the free throw line in the opening frame.
After a Dallas Graziani trey Rollins answered with a 5-0 run capped by a Ricky Ghedini triple to make it a 46-41 Rollins deficit with 19:10 to go. Rollins would continue to hang around and get to within three (57-54) on a pair of Mayson Quartlebaum free throws with 9:41 on the clock. Rollins battled back and tied the game at 63 on a Jah Nze layup with 4:23 to go. After the two teams traded scores the Tars took the lead as Ryan Renfro split a pair of free throws with 1:50 on the clock. After Jaxson Nap tied the game nine seconds later it was Graziani and Ross Reeves that would carry the Sharks to the finish line.
Rollins was paced by Nze with 14, while both James and Renfro had 11. Rollins shot 43.1 percent from. the field, 33.3 percent (7-21) from the 3-point line, and 75 percent (18-24) at the free throw line. Rollins won the rebounding battle 43-38. They had 12 assists and 22 turnovers in the contest.
Graziani poured in a game high 35 points for the Sharks as he played all 40 minutes, Reeves added 14, and Ryan Davis netted 11. The Sharks shot 39.7 percent from the field, 14.3 percent (4-28) from the 3-point line, and 65 percent (13-20) at the free throw line. They had nine assists and nine turnovers in the contest.
Rollins still has a chance to make the Sunshine State Conference. With the remaining games on Saturday in the SSC, all of the following scenarios need to happen for the Tars to clinch the #8 seed in the SSC:
Barry defeats Eckerd
Palm Beach Atlantic defeats Tampa
Lynn defeats Florida Tech
Other SSC Scores Wednesday:
Tampa 84 Saint Leo 78
Florida Southern 84 Barry 82
Palm Beach Atlantic 90 Embry-Riddle 75
Lynn 92 Eckerd 72
SSC Standings:
Nova Southeastern 18-1 (23-1)
Palm Beach Atlantic 15-4 (23-4)
Florida Southern 13-6 (21-8)
Tampa 10-9 (16-10)
Barry 10-9 (15-12)
Embry-Riddle 9-10 (12-14)
Lynn 8-11 (13-13)
Eckerd 7-12 (13-13)
Rollins 7-13 (13-15)
Florida Tech 6-13 (10-17)
Saint Leo 2-17 (7-20)
South Region Rankings (Released 2.25- Top 8 teams qualify:)
1. Nova Southeastern
2. Palm Beach Atlantic
3. West Alabama
4. Montevallo
5. Florida Southern
6. West Florida
7. Tuskegee
8. Trevecca Nazarene
9. Alabama Hunstville
10. Clark- Atlanta
No comments:
Post a Comment