WINTER PARK , Fla. (February 15, 2006) John Thinnes led a furious
second half comeback for Rollins College against the University of
Tampa, but fell just short as the Spartans took out the first place
Tars, 87-81. Junior guard John Thinnes dropped a season high 31
points for the Tars (18-6, 10-3) while shooting 9-15 from three
point range. Thinnes drilled 8-11 from three point land to lead a
58 point Tar effort in the second half. However, Tampa (17-7, 8-5)
stayed strong and hit free throws down the stretch to hang on.
'
Thinnes led all scorers with his 31 points while also setting a new
Rollins record for three point field goals in a single game, 9.
Junior reserve forward Isaac Codrey finished with 19 points on 8-11
shooting to go along with nine rebounds. Freshman reserve guard
Kevin Hogan went for 13 points while going 7-7 from the charity
stripe all in the second half. And sophomore point guard Jonny
Reibel netted eight points and dished out seven assists.
'
Four
Spartans reached double figures on the evening. Christopher Evans
led Tampa with 20 points and 14 rebounds. He also played the full
40 minutes. Point guard Mark Borders and Shane Thorson each netted
19 points. Borders, a Bob Cousy award candidate, hit six big free
throws, all with the game on the line.
'
Tampa began the game on a big run. The Tars couldn't get their
offense going out of the gate and found themselves down double
figures just a few minutes into the game. Kevin Byrd knocked down a
15 footer seven minutes in to put Tampa up 15-2. The Tars would
stay down double figures and go in at the half down 35-23.
'
John
Thinnes got the ball rolling for the Rollins offense as he came out
of the break on fire for the Tars. Thinnes came out onto the floor
and proceeded to cut the lead down to single digits on two threes
within thirty seconds of each other. With 11:58 to go in the game,
Thinnes hit his fourth three of the half and cut the Spartan lead
to 47-42. However, from there the Spartans would push their lead
back into double digits with a big run. The Spartans went up 70-53
with 5:46 to go as Tampa went on a 23-11 run to try and bury the
Tars.
'
Rollins got some baskets from Codrey and Thinnes and Tampa
committed some foolish fouls that led to free throw opportunities
that the Tars were able to convert. And when John Thinnes hit
another three with 1:42 to go, the Tars were suddenly within four
at 74-70. The Spartans would end it a few possessions later
however, as Christopher Evans hit a three with 0:46 seconds on the
clock to make it a 79-72 game. The teams traded free throws in
garbage time but the Tars still fell 87-81.
'
Rollins finished the game on a 28-17 run. The two teams combined
for 110 second half points, with Rollins accounting for 58 of them.
Each team was red hot from beyond the arc. Rollins was 15-36 for 42
percent, and Tampa was 13-31 for 42 percent.
'
The
Tars will be back in action Saturday February 18 when Rollins will
battle Barry University . Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 pm. In
addition, Saturday will be senior night in Warden Arena, so be sure
to come out and support the Tars only senior this season, Nate
Rusbosin.
