MELBOURNE, Fla. (January 7, 2009) Kevin
Hogan hit six 3-pointers and led all scorers with 25 points as
Rollins routed Florida Tech 99-79 in Sunshine State Conference
action Wednesday.
The Tars improve to 10-3 on the season and stay perfect in the
conference at 3-0. Florida Tech falls to 7-6, 0-3 SSC.
Hogan shot 8-for-11 from the floor (6-for-9, 3-point) and was
3-for-3 from the line for a season's best 25 points, just three off
his career high. Nick
Wolf added 20 points and five rebounds while Julian
Wilkison notched a career high 13 points off the bench. Jeremy
Sharpe gave the Tars four players in double-figures with
11.
Derek Hellemann led the Panthers with 22 points behind a
10-for-12 performance from the free throw line, while Simon
Cummings netted 15.
Rollins took a 46-31 advantage at the half and opened the second
stanza on a 15-0 run to take a 30 point lead with 15 minutes left
in the game. From there, the Tars cruised to the victory.
The Tars shot a solid 57 percent (33-for-58) from the field and
88 percent (22-for-25) from the charity stripe. The Panthers
mustered just 40 percent (26-for-66) from the floor on the night.
Rollins won the battle on the boards for the second straight game,
34-33.
Florida Tech pushed the issue from the opening tip, running out
to a 10-2 lead just two minutes into the game. Craig
Reichel scored a lay-in to spark a 19-7 Tars spurt that put the
visitors up six with nine minutes left in the period. Ryan Ballard
hit a three to cool the Tars run, but Wolf answered with an
old-fashioned three point play the Tars next trip to keep Rollins
rolling.
Hogan hit from long range with just under two minutes in the
half to put Rollins up 42-29 and ended the half with a steal and
later assisted on a Wilkison back-door layup with 13 ticks left to
give Rollins the 46-31 halftime lead.
Tech came out in the second half with a new starting five and
the Tars took advantage, outscoring their hosts 25-11 over the
first 10 minutes. Rollins then went into prevent and held on down
the stretch to record their fifth straight win.
Rollins will host Sunshine State Conference foe Tampa on
Saturday, January 10 at 4 p.m. in Warden Arena. The Spartans were a
thorn in the Tars side last season, beating Rollins in each of
their three meetings. UT was a 62-61 winner over Eckerd on
Wednesday in St. Petersburg and are 7-4, 1-1 SSC on the season.
Fans can catch all the action live on the Citizens Bank of
Florida Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on
91.5 FM, WPRK.