WINTER PARK, Fla. (November 17, 2008) –
Rollins built a 16 point halftime lead and never looked back,
downing Warner University 71-59 in the Tars season opener Monday
night.
Rollins' (1-0) Jeremy
Sharpe led all scorers with 19 points and five boards while Nick
Wolf added 12 points and six rebounds. Big man Craig
Reichel was 2-2 from beyond the arch en route to 10 points and
Zach Pancratz pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Warner (2-3) was led by Derell Henderson with 16 points and a
game-high 13 rebounds. Preston Adams netted 13 and Lamont Houston
added 12.
The Tars hit the offensive glass early and opened up a 16-6 lead
five minutes into the game. Six Rollins points were second chance
buckets during the span that was also highlighted by four Tars
steals. A Nikola
Baran three pushed the lead to 11, 27-16 halfway through the
frame before an 11-5 run by the Royals cut the advantage to five
with six and a half minutes left.
Rollins ended the half scoring on eight of their final nine
possessions to open up a 48-32 lead going into the locker room.
The hosts began the second half on a 9-2 run, punctuated by a
Wolf three pointer, to make the score 57-35 with 15:30 to go. The
Tars then went ice cold and netted just three field goals and 10
points over the next 13 minutes, while the Royals chipped away and
cut the lead to nine, 67-58, with 90 seconds to go. After a Rollins
timeout, Sharpe hit a jumper from the elbow with 53 ticks left and
Warner came up empty on their trip down the floor to preserve the
Rollins win.
The Tars shot 59 percent (17-29) in the first half and 46
percent (25-54) for the game while Warner was 14-28 (50 percent) in
the first half and 23-61 (37 percent) overall. Both teams pulled
down 36 rebounds with Rollins committing 17 turnovers to the Royals
14.
Rollins will be back in action on Thursday, November 20 when
they will tip-off a doubleheader with Puerto Rico-Cayey at 5:30
p.m. The Rollins women will follow at 7:30 p.m. Fans can catch all
the action live on the Citizens Bank of Florida Tars Sports Network
at RollinsSports.com.
