WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 14, 2009) – A
furious comeback came up two points short as Rollins fell to Nova
Southeastern 67-65 Saturday in Warden Arena.
Rollins had the ball down one with 10 seconds to go, but a Nick
Wolf lay-up was blocked and ended the Tars chances.
Prior to the game, Rollins honored seniors Chauncey
Gibbs, Zach
Pancratz, Craig
Reichel, Kevin
Hogan and student assistant Juan Bernal.
Wolf and Pancratz each posed 20 points to lead Rollins (17-7,
9-4 SSC) with Wolf also gathering a game high 11 rebounds.
Normally a very good 3-point shooting team, the Tars struggled
from beyond the arc, hitting just 4-for-29. Overall, the Tars were
19-for-32 (34 percent) from the field while Nova shot 22-for55 (40
percent). The two teams were deadlocked on boards with each snaring
42.
NSU (13-7, 7-4 SSC) was paced by Tim Coenraad with 16 points
while Ross Allsop netted 13 and pulled down 10 rebounds. Dionte
Perry added 11 points for the Sharks.
Rollins came out very flat and struggled on the offensive end of
the floor as the Sharks rolled up a 21-12 lead halfway through the
first half. The Tars cut the lead to six after a Pancratz
old-fashioned three point play, but the Sharks pushed the lead back
to double digits and took a 32-24 lead at the half.
The Tars came out of the locker room in a fury, twice getting to
within three over the first three plus minutes. Nova then put
together a 9-1 run to go back up by 11, 47-36 with five minutes
left. An Allsop lay-in with 3:25 to go kept the NSU advantage at
11, but that would prove to be the Sharks last field goal of the
game.
Rollins began to foul early to buy time and quickly climbed
their way back into the game. Craig
Reichel was fouled on a put-back with 17 seconds left and made
good on both free throws to make the score 66-62. Nova turned the
ball over and Rollins capitalized as Pancratz picked up a loose
ball and nailed a three pointer to pull the Tars to within one with
10 ticks left. The Sharks again turned the ball over on the ensuing
possession, but a Wolf bunny was blocked by Perry with less than a
second to go.
Rollins is 2-3 in their last five games and finds themselves in
a must win situation for their next contest, a Wednesday, February
18th date at home against Lynn. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. The
first 300 fans through the door will get official Tar-ible Towels.
Fans can catch all the action live on the Citizens Bank of Florida
Tars Sports Network at RolinsSports.com.
