SAINT LEO,
Fla. (March 2, 2006) ' The
Rollins College men's basketball team defeated Saint Leo University
80-64 on Thursday evening in the quarterfinals of the Sunshine
State Conference Basketball Tournament, advancing the Tars to the
semifinals that will take place on Saturday afternoon. The Tars
(21-7) entered the game as the number one seed, while Saint Leo
(8-20) was the number nine seed and defeated Florida Tech on
Wednesday to advance in the tournament to take on the
Tars.
Rollins was led by
junior guard John Thinnes with 25 points, including eight
three-pointers. Juniors Isaac Codrey and Deon Troupe were also in
double figures for the Tars with 14 and 13 respectively. Scott
Seifert led the Lions with 23 points.
The first half opened
with the two teams firing treys from all angles. Thinnes went
through a five minute stretch where he hit five three-pointers,
including four in a row to put the Tars up by 12 with 11:07 to play
in the half. In the half, Rollins was 6-16 from three-point range,
while the Lions were 5-17. At the break Rollins was up 42-28.
In the second half
Rollins went up by as many as 18 and were up 68-51 with 7:10
remaining in the game. Saint Leo then came alive and went on a 13-0
run over the next three minutes to cut the lead to four. Thinnes
then silenced the Saint Leo crowd with his eighth three pointer of
the game, sparking the Tars and sending them on a 12-0 to end the
game. Over those last four minutes, the Tars went 9-12 from the
free throw line.
Rollins finished the
game shooting 50.9 percent from the field while holding the Lions
to 37.7 percent.
Rollins will have one
day of rest prior to their semifinal match-up with Eckerd on
Saturday, March 4 at 2:30 p.m. in Saint Leo. The two teams split
the regular season match-ups, with Eckerd winning at Rollins 66-55
and the Tars defeating the Tritons 60-55 on the road.
