WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 27, 2010) -
Rollins fell into a 20-0 hole to begin the game and a comeback
bid fell short as the 13th-ranked Tars fell to Eckerd 63-58 in the
regular season finale Saturday.
Despite the loss, Rollins (22-5, 13-3 SSC) still owns at least a
share of the Sunshine State Conference championship. New co-leader
Florida Southern hosts Nova Southeastern in its season finale on
Saturday night. Should NSU prevail, the Tars would grab the SSC
title outright and the No. 1 seed in next week's conference
tournament. A Florida Southern victory would split the title, and
Rollins would be the No. 2 seed by way of tie-breaker.
Nick Wolf had a big night
for the Tars, pouring in a game-high 27 points and grabbing nine
rebounds. Myk
Brown added 15 points for Rollins.
John Harper netted 17 points to lead Eckerd (18-8, 11-5 SSC), while
Zaronn Cann chipped in 13 and Chris Gray added 10.
Rollins shot 42 percent (16-38) in the game, including just a
7-of-18 (39 percent) mark from long range. The Tritons shot 56
percent (14-25) in the first half, but hit just 6-of-18 (33
percent) in the second frame to finish 47 percent (20-43).
Eckerd came out on fire while Rollins was ice cold to begin the
game as the Tritons raced out to a 20-0 lead over the first four
minutes. Harper hit a pair of 3-pointers and a layup during the
span, while Cann and Gray each scored six.
Nikola Baran hit a free
throw at the 13:32 mark to put the Tars on the board and get the
hosts rolling. He then tacked on another from the stripe to spark a
15-6 Rollins run and get them back into the flow of the game,
closing the gap to 26-15 with 8:45 to play in the half.
A Baran layup with less than five minutes remaining cut the deficit
to single-digits, 28-19 before the Tritons took a 35-23 advantage
into intermission.
Rollins got to within six, 42-36, with 12:26 to play, only to have
EC again push their advantage to 11 at the 9:02 mark.
A 7-0 run by Rollins, five of which came from Wolf, over the next
three minutes made it a two possession game, 50-46. Harper buried a
3-pointer later in the fame to extend the lead to seven, and
Rollins couldn't get the big bucket or defensive stop the rest of
the way with a Brown triple at the buzzer making the final count
63-58.
Rollins will now await the pairings for the 2010 Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Florida Sunshine State Conference Tournament, which will
be released early Sunday. Rollins is guaranteed one of the top two
seeds and hosting duties for the first round on Wednesday, Mar. 3
at 7:30 p.m.
