LAKELAND, Fla. (February 6, 2010) -
Florida Southern was white-hot from the field early and raced
out to a big lead that Rollins couldn't overcome as the 17th-ranked
Tars were downed by the 11th-ranked Mocs 90-69 in front of 1,885
fans at the Jenkins Field House, Saturday.
Rollins drops to 17-4 on the season and still holds a half game
lead in the Sunshine State Conference with a mark of 8-2. Florida
Southern improves to 19-3 overall and 8-3 in SSC play.
Nick Wolf tallied his second
consecutive double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to pace
Rollins' offense. Matt Robertson added 13
points while Myk
Brown chipped in 11 despite battling foul trouble the entire
night.
John Thompson led six Moccasins in double-figures with 20 points,
to go along with eight rebounds. Damon Ellison netted 17 off the
bench with Brandon Jenkins and Rion Rayfield each chipping in 15.
Terry Jenkins rounded out the Mocs top scorers with 14 points and a
game-high 10 assists.
Rollins shot 44 percent (24-54) from the field, but was just
5-of-19 (26 percent) from the 3-point line. Florida Southern shot
63 percent in the first half and ended the game 55 percent (32-58)
from the field, including a 13-of-28 (46 percent) mark from beyond
the arc. The Tars were outrebounded 35-25 with each team committing
11 turnovers.
It was all Florida Southern early as Rayfield hit back-to-back
3-pointers to start the game and was followed by three straight
treys from Terry Jenkins as the Mocs opened up a 15-2 lead after
the first four minutes. Three-pointers by Brown and Ian Scott
later in the half slowed the Mocs down and got the Tars to within
eight, 18-10.
Another Rayfield 3-pointer, followed by a Brandon Jenkins trey
pushed the Mocs lead to 13 before a pair of Ryan Ferranti free
throws and Brown bucket cut the lead back to single-digits, 25-16
with 10:31 to play.
FSC put together a run in the waning minutes of the first half, but
the big game-changer came at the 5:33 mark when Rollins head coach
Tom Klusman was saddled with
back-to-back technical fouls and was ejected from the game.
Rayfield's ensuing six free throws put the Mocs up 22 as they would
go on to take a 56-35 lead at the half.
Rollins didn't roll over in the second half and kept the Mocs lead
in the teens, but foul trouble and the continued hot shooting from
Florida Southern proved to be too much down the stretch.
Rollins will be back on the road Wednesday, Feb. 10, traveling to
Barry. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. The Tars will be looking
to avenge a loss to the Bucs earlier in the year as Barry handed
Rollins their only other SSC loss, 77-64 on Jan. 6. Fans can follow
all the action live on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com
and locally on 91.5 FM, WPRK.
