ST.
PETERSBURG, Fla. (February 4, 2006) ' St. Petersburg native Deon
Troupe drained a three pointer with four minutes left to break a
48-48 tie and the Tars held on down the stretch to beat Eckerd
College 60-55 on Saturday. The win was Rollins' (16-5; 9-2 SSC)
seventh consecutive and keeps them in a first place tie atop the
Sunshine State Conference standings.
Troupe
poured in a game high 22 points, shooting 6-9 from the floor (4-6
three pointer) and 6-12 from the free throw line. Jonny Reibel and
Jon Smith each added nine points for the Tars with Chauncey Gibbs
pulling down a team best six rebounds.
'
The
Tars out-rebounded their hosts 33-28 and also shot 52.8 percent
from the floor, 66.7 percent in the second half, while holding
Eckerd to just 34.7 percent shooting.
'
Four
Tritons scored in double figures, let by Matt Cenaturs with 13,
despite shooting 2-14 from the field. Andrea King-Holland, Damone
Morris and Marcus Washington each posted 11 points for Eckerd.
'
The
visitors from Winter Park raced off to a fast start, going up 6-0
in the game's first 90 seconds. Eckerd twice cut the advantage to
one in the half, but Rollins kept pulling away and went back up by
six at 19-13 with 4:20 left in the period. EC came clawing back and
out scored Rollins 9-3 the rest of the way to knot the score at 22
all going into the break.
'
A
John Thinnes lay up to open the second half put Rollins back on
top, but three straight free throws from Cenatus gave Eckerd their
first lead of the game at 25-24. It didn't last long, however, as
Thinnes nailed a trey on the Tars next trip down the floor to put
Rollins ahead and begin the back and forth second half. The game
was tied eight times in the period with the lead changing hands six
times. Morris connected from three-point range with 10:04 left in
the game, putting the home team up by five 38-33, only to see the
visitors go on a 8-3 run to tie the game at 41 apiece. The back and
forth continued until Troupe's trey with 3:57 to play in the game,
when the Tars took the lead for good.
'
The
Tars will take a break from conference action when they take on
Palm Beach Atlantic on Tuesday, February 7, 2006. Game time in
Winter Park is set for 7:30 p.m
