WINTER PARK , Fla. (January 7, 2006) The Rollins College men's
basketball team saw it's three game win streak snapped on Saturday
evening as they were turned back by the Eckerd College Tritons,
66-55. The Tars (8-4, 2-1) came into the game winners of seven of
their last eight and had won their first two conference match ups.
But the Tritons (11-2, 1-1) athletic squad proved to be too much
for Rollins, as Eckerd sent the Tars to their first loss in the
Sunshine State Conference.
'
The
Tars were led by sophomore point guard Jonny Reibel who finished
the game with 13 points and five assists. Only one other Tar was in
double figures. Junior guard John Thinnes put up 11 points on three
of six shooting from three-point range. Freshman forward Greg
Sweeney gave Rollins a nice boost off the bench as he finished with
seven points on 2-5 shooting. Junior forward Isaac Codrey just
missed out on another double figure game as he finished with nine
points and six rebounds.
'
The
Tritons had a solid offensive attack with four players in double
figures. Junior guard Matt Cenatus finished with a game high 18
points and five rebounds. Forward Craig Hazel grabbed a game high
nine boards and put in 13 points while shooting a perfect 7-7 from
the foul line.
'
The
Tars started sluggish out of the gate once again. In the games
first ten minutes the Tars found themselves down double digits,
17-6 on a three pointer by Matt Cenatus. Rollins was able to battle
back and get the game to within six as John Thinnes hit a three
pointer with five minutes remaining, but the Tars couldn't get any
closer by the end of the half. They finished with a paltry 21
points in the first half and trailed by six, 27-21.
'
Rollins was out-rebounded in the first half 23-13 and shot only 36
percent overall and 13 percent from three point.
'
In
the second half the Tars got some energy going with their long
range arsenal. John Thinnes came out and hit two three pointers and
Jonny Reibel added another, and the Tars grabbed their first lead
of the game at 30-27. However, over the next five minutes the
Tritons went on a 13-0 run. The run was capped off by a lay-up by
Damone Morris on the fast break to put Eckerd up 40-30 with 13:44
left to play. The Tars would battle back yet again and would even
grab a one point lead at 42-41 on an Isaac Codrey three point play,
but from there the Tars ran out of gas. The Tritons finished the
game on a 25-13 run thanks mostly to superb foul shooting, and
Eckerd took the game 66-55.
'
The
Tars were out-rebounded in the game by 14 at 41-27. The strength of
the Tritons rebounding was eventually the downfall for the Tars.
Eckerd created second, third and sometimes fourth opportunities for
themselves by crashing the offensive glass. The Tritons
out-rebounded the Tars on the offensive end 14-8. Eckerd also shot
the ball extremely well from the free throw line. The Tritons hit
77 percent of their free throws, hitting 27 in all, 21 of which
were in the second half.
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Rollins will be back in action on Wednesday when they will travel
to Lakeland , Florida to do battle with another conference foe,
Florida Southern. Coming into Saturday Florida Southern had an
overall record of nine and three and a conference record of one and
one. The game will begin at 7:30 pm in Lakeland.
