WINTER PARK , Fla. (January 28, 2006) The Rollins College men's
basketball team won its fourth straight game, as they downed the
Nova Southeastern Sharks by a score of 71-68. The Tars (13-5, 6-2)
snapped a two game home losing streak with the win, and handed the
Sharks (11-6, 5-3) their second straight conference loss. With the
win the Tars move into a second place tie in the Sunshine State
Conference with Eckerd College .
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Rollins got another clutch performance from junior sixth man, Isaac
Codrey. The 6-7 Lake Howell high school product, scored 22 points
to lead Rollins while dishing out five assists, grabbing four
boards and snatching three steals. Sophomore point guard Jonny
Reibel was the only other Tar in double figures. Reibel finished
with 13 points and five dishes while shooting 4-9 from the floor.
Junior guard Deon Troupe finished with nine points on 2-3 shooting
from beyond the arc. Junior John Thinnes added eight, while
sophomore Chauncey Gibbs pumped in eight on 2-2 shooting.
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The
Tars grabbed the victory despite getting out-rebounded by double
digits, 38-25. The Sharks really took it to the Tars on the
offensive glass. Nova grabbed 15 offensive boards while the Tars
could only manage three. The Tars balanced the game out by forcing
20 Shark turnovers and swiping 15 steals as a team. The Tars also
shot the ball extremely well, at 51 percent while holding Nova to
42 percent.
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The
Tars came out of the gate sluggish once again at home. In the first
five minutes, the Sharks grabbed a ten point lead at 15-5 on a
lay-in by Oresti Nitsios. The Tars were able to nod it up at the
eight minute mark on a free throw by Isaac Codrey to make it 23
all. Rollins then shot ahead on the Sharks over the next five
minutes to take a seven point lead on a free throw by Jon Smith.
Nova would storm back in the final minutes of the half, and cut the
game to three points as David Naylor scored six points in the last
minute to make it a 38-35 game at the break.
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The
two teams were deadlocked for nearly the entire second half
straight from the opening minute. The Sharks grabbed a quick three
point lead on a trey by Rhys Martin with 15:25 left to make it a
46-43 game. From there, the two teams traded buckets the entire
game until the last few minutes. The Tars took a lead on an Isaac
Codrey lay-in with 1:54 left to play put the Rollins up 68-65. Nova
responded with a three-pointer by Oresti Nitsios to tie the game at
68 with 1:35 to play. But Codrey hit three of his last four free
throws to win it as Nitsios had two looks at the a three to tie it
that both fell short. Rollins walked away with a 71-68 victory.
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The Tars will be back in
action on Monday, when they will host the Florida Tech Panthers.
Rollins defeated the Panthers in Melbourne back on December 3,
83-55. The action is set to start at 7:30 pm on Monday evening.
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