LAS VEGAS, Nev. (December 20, 2008) –
Rollins quickly found themselves down 12-0 and as much as 21-5 in
the first half, but rallied back to beat North Alabama 71-68 in the
Las Vegas High Desert Classic Saturday.
The victory pushes the Tars to 6-3 on the season and adds a big
South Region win to their tournament resume. The Lions, who were
ranked as high as 11th in the nation earlier in the month, fall to
8-5 on the year.
Nick
Wolf recorded his second double-double of the season to lead
the Tars with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Zach
Pancratz and Craig
Reichel each netted 12 while Kevin
Hogan and Matt Robertson each tallied nine points.
The Tars shot well for the second straight night, hitting
26-of-51 (51 percent) from the field. They also hit the glass hard,
gathering a 32-25 advantage on the glass.
Thomas Fraise led the North Alabama and all scorers with 33
points, 24 of which came in the first half, to go along with eight
rebounds. Andrew Chesney and Kenny Johnson added 12 each for the
Lions.
It was a disastrous start for Rollins as Fraise scored the
game's first six points and was followed by 3-pointers from Phil
Collins and Chesney to put the Tars in an early 12-0 hole.
Robertson hit a layup at the 15:30 mark to get Rollins on the
board, but the Lions kept up the onslaught and were up 21-5 with
11:15 to play in the first.
Rollins began to chop away and pulled to within five, 25-20
after a Pancratz three and Reichel lay-in with just under seven
minutes left. The Lions got the lead back to 10, but Wolf ended the
half on a 5-0 run for the Tars with a pair of free-throws and
buzzer-beating three pointer to make the score 39-34 in favor of
the Lions at the break.
Pancratz gave Rollins their first lead of the night, 52-51 after
a trey with 12:12 on the clock. After some back and forth play, the
Tars took the lead for good on a Jeremy
Sharpe jumper with just under eight minutes left in the game.
The Tars went up by as much as six, but held off the Lions down the
stretch as two three point tries in the final five seconds missed
the mark to give Rollins a split in their two contests in
Vegas.
Rollins will be back in action on December 29-30 at the 34th
annual Winter Park Rotary Tangerine Tournament. The Tars will
welcome Flagler, Concordia and West Georgia to the Alfond Sports
Center with Flagler taking on West Georgia at 6 p.m., followed by
Rollins and Concordia at 8 p.m. on the tournament's first day. The
consolation game will begin at 6 p.m. on the 30th and will be
immediately followed by the championship game.
