LAS VEGAS, Nev. (December 16, 2006) ' The No.
15 Rollins men's basketball team came at No. 4 Seattle Pacific from
all angles on Saturday and downed the Falcons 88-75 at the High
Desert Classic in Las Vegas. The Tars improve to 6-2 overall and
drop Seattle Pacific to 4-4.
Sophomore big man Craig Reichel led Rollins with 23 points on
11-14 shooting from the field. John Thinnes scored the Tars' first
11 points of the game en route to a 21 point night while Jonny
Reibel added 12 points to go along with a game high seven rebounds,
nine assists and four steals.
The Falcons' Rob Diederichs shot 6-8 from long range to lead the
Seattle Pacific with 21 points. Rob Will and Dustin Bremerman each
netted 13.
Rollins jumped out to a quick lead as Thinnes knocked down three
straight from beyond the arc, added a nifty lay-up and was followed
by back to back Deon Troupe treys to give the Tars a 17-8 point
lead after five minutes of play. Rollins pressure defense created
turnovers and fast break points as their lead grew to as much as
17, 35-18 at the 5:15 mark. The Tars were able to hold the double
digit lead throughout the rest of the period and went into the
locker room ahead 44-29.
The beginning of the second half was a carbon copy of the first
as the Tars opened the stanza on a 10-3 run behind three lay-ups
from Reichel, one from Thinnes, and an Isaac Codrey trey. Seattle
Pacific cut into the lead, but the Tars stayed resilient and went
up by 29, punctuated by two Reichel slams, 73-44 with 10 minutes to
go. The Falcons caught fire down the stretch and put a scare in the
Tars, but Rollins hit from the charity stripe to tally the 13 point
victory.
Rollins won the battle on the boards, 31-30 and were hot from
the field, knocking down 65.5 percent and held the Falcons to just
41 percent shooting.
The Tars will conclude the High Desert Classic on Sunday,
December 17 against host and third ranked Central Missouri State.
Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. EST from the McDermott Center in
Las Vegas, Nevada. Fans can listen live on WPRK, 91.5 FM in Winter
Park or on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com.
