BOCA RATON, Fla. (March 4, 2007) - The Rollins
men's basketball team fell to the Eckerd Tritons 67-52 in the SSC
Championship game Sunday afternoon at the de Hoernle Center. The
Tars were looking for their third overall title and second straight
as they defeated Barry 57-56 in overtime in last year's
championship game.
Two Tars scored in double-digits as Eckerd rolled past Rollins.
Junior point guard Jonny Reibel had 14 points on the afternoon with
three assists going a perfect 4-4 from the line. Senior Deon Troupe
tallied 12 points and shooting 50 percent from the floor. Isaac
Codrey, John Thinnes and Craig Reichel each chipped in six points
for Rollins.
Going into this match-up, the No. 1 seeded Tars and No. 3 seeded
Tritons split their regular season games with Rollins winning at
home 73-66 on January 20 in a live CSTV nationally-televised game,
and Eckerd winning handily at home 62-57 on February 17.
'We knew it would be a battle,' Thinnes said. 'Eckerd was tough
and they just played great. They deserve the championship
title.'
Rollins led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but
Eckerd was able to slip by the Tars' defenders to begin to chip
away at the lead. With 45 seconds left in the stanza, the Tritons
were within one going into the locker room at the half, 30-29.
In the second period, Rollins tried to get their offense and
defense going, but Eckerd seemed to have all the answers. With five
minutes remaining, the Tritons established a solid nine point lead
over the Tars. Rollins would not recover from the deficit, losing
to Eckerd by 15 points, 67-52.
Rollins was outscored 16-8 in points in the paint in the second
half, as well as 7-2 in points off the bench.
'We played a physical game and we just ran out of gas,' Coach
Tom Klusman said. 'Our kids played great and they never gave up. I
am very proud of them.'
Reibel and Thinnes were named to the Conference All-Tournament
Team at the conclusion of the game. 'We played really hard,' Reibel
said. 'This was our third game in three days and Eckerd played us
really tough on offense and defense. We can only look forward to
the future now.'
The Tars will await this evening's selection show which will be
held at 10:30 p.m. on the NCAA website. Log onto www.ncaasports.com/dii to
follow the selection show live to see which SSC teams will be
moving on to the NCAA South Region Tournament.
