SAINT
LEO, Fla. (March 4, 2006) ' In an exciting game that came down to
the finals seconds, the Rollins College men's basketball team
pulled out the 67-64 victory over Eckerd on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, the Tars advance to face Barry University in the
Sunshine State Conference tournament finals. Junior guard Deon
Troupe nailed a three-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to give the
Tars the 67-64 lead, which they held on to over the final
seconds.
'
Junior
forward Isaac Codrey (Winter Park, Fla.) led the Tars with 21
points and nine rebounds, while junior guard John Thinnes
(Cincinnati, Ohio) and Troupe added 15 and 14 points respectively.
Andre King-Holland led the Tritons with 18 points and Matt Cenatus
notched 16.
'
The
Tritons (21-8) started the game hot, grabbing an early 10 point
lead. Rollins (22-7) battled back and tied the game at 19 with 7:03
to play in the half and took their first lead of the game, 23-21
with 5:11 remaining off a Chauncey Gibbs (West Palm Beach, Fla.)
lay-up. The teams went into the halftime break with Rollins up
33-31 on the scoreboard.
'
Rollins
came out of the halftime break and extended their two point
advantage to as many as 12 points and were up 11, 54-43, with 9:52
to play. Eckerd then took control and went on a 21-10 run to tie
the game 64-64 with fifty-two ticks remaining. After an Eckerd
timeout, Rollins came down the court and Troupe (St. Petersburg,
Fla.) connected on the three with the shot clock ticking down,
giving the Tars a three point lead with 17 seconds left to play.
Rollins then held strong on defense, preventing the Tritons from
tying the game, securing the victory.
'
'It
was a typical Rollins-Eckerd game, physical and tough,' said
Rollins coach Tom Klusman. 'There was the opportunity during the
game that we thought we could extend our lead and put it out of
reach, but Eckerd made their run. Our guys showed great poise and
Deon connected on a great shot for three. We played good defense at
the end to grab the win.'
'
Both
teams shot the ball well with Rollins connecting on 23-43 for 53.5
percent and Eckerd shooting 51.2 percent (21-41). Rollins also won
the rebound game, grabbing 27 boards to the Tritons 23.
'
Rollins
will have one night to rest before they head into the tournament
finals against Barry. Barry, who is the seventh seed in the
tournament, defeated the second seeded Nova Southeastern team and
the third seeded Lynn University team to advance to the finals.
During the season, Rollins swept the Buccaneers, winning 71-58 at
Barry and 58-42 at home. Tip-off for the championship game in Saint
Leo will be at 1:00 p.m. The Tars will be seeking their second
Sunshine State Conference Tournament Championship, with their only
title coming back in 1992.
