LAKELAND, Fla. (January 10, 2007) ' The Rollins
men's basketball team rolled up their fifth straight victory and
kept pace in the Sunshine State Conference with a big 70-59 road
win over Florida Southern on Wednesday.
Jonny Reibel and Isaac Codrey both posted double-doubles to lead
the balanced Rollins (11-3, 2-1 SSC) offense. Reibel netted a team
high 16 points and handed out 10 assists while also pulling down
seven rebounds. Codrey notched 10 points and gathered a game high
10 boards. John Thinnes connected on four from behind the arc for
12 points while big man Craig Reichel put up 11.
Will Graham led Florida Southern (5-8, 1-3 SSC) and all scorers
with 20 points on 8-11 shooting from the floor. Rob Eldridge posted
12 points with Andrei Grant getting eight points and eight
rebounds.
The Mocs were 22-51 (43 percent) from the field while the Tars
hit 24-60 (40 percent). The hosts also out rebounded Rollins 37-34,
but committed more turnovers, 17-10.
Rollins was ice cold at the start, missing their first 12 shots
from the field. Four Deon Troupe free throws kept the Tars in the
game as they fell into an early 11-4 hole after five minutes of
play. Back to back lay-ups by Codrey sparked a 10-2 run by Rollins,
punctuated by a Reichel trey, to give the Tars an 18-15 lead. A
Grant dunk stopped the bleeding for FSC, but the Tars stayed tough
as the advantage ballooned to 14, 31-17 with 6:35 left in the
period. A jumper and dunk by Graham in the half's final minute cut
the lead to single digits and the teams hit halftime with the Tars
up 39-30.
Rollins out-scored FSC 22-12 through the first stretch of the
second half and took a commanding 61-42 lead with just eight
minutes left. The Mocs cut the lead to 11 with just under three
minutes left, but Rollins connected on free throws down the stretch
to hold on for the win.
Rollins heads into a huge Sunshine State Conference match-up on
Saturday, January 13 at SSC leading Lynn. Tip-off is scheduled for
7:30 p.m. in Boca Raton. Fans can listen live on the Tars Sports
Network at RollinsSports.com and at 91.5 WPRK Winter Park.
