FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (March 6, 2010) - Rollins
erased a 15-point second half deficit and advanced to the 2010
BlueCross BlueShield of Florida Sunshine State Conference
Tournament final with a 72-65 win over Eckerd, Saturday.
The second-seeded Tars will meet the winner of top-seed Florida
Southern and fifth-seed Barry in the championship game on Sunday,
Mar. 7 at 1 p.m.
Nick Wolf was spectacular
for Rollins (24-5), scoring the Tars' final eight points and 23 in
the second half en route to a game-high 27 points to go along with
seven rebounds. Myk
Brown went 12-of-16 from the charity stripe and added 16 points
with Nikola Baran hitting three,
3-pointers and netting 13 points.
Zaronn Cann paced Eckerd (19-9) with 16 points while Lance
Kearse added 15 and Woody Taylor 10.
Rollins made their living at the free throw line, shooting
31-of-46 from the stripe while the Tritons were just 10-of-14.
Rollins shot 46 percent (18-39) from the floor with EC hitting 48
percent (25-52). Eckerd won the battle on the glass, outrebounding
Rollins 29-26.
Brown hit a free throw to open scoring, but it would be the
Tars' only lead of the first half as the Tritons used their inside
game to open up an 11-5 lead six minutes into the game. Rollins
closed the gap to four on two different occasions, but a 10-3 spurt
by EC gave the Tritons a 36-27 advantage at intermission.
Eckerd made a statement to begin the second half, scoring six
straight in the paint to lead by 15, 42-27 with 17:34 to play.
After a Tom Klusman timeout, Rollins
rolled off an 18-7 run, hitting seven free throws over the span and
using a Brock Blanchard reverse
layup to close the gap to four, 49-45 with 12 to play. During the
spurt, Cann and John Harper were whistled for technicals, both
their fourth personals, and sat the remainder of the game.
Rollins then went ice cold from the field and allowed EC to
rebuild the lead to 13 at the 9:26 mark, punctuated with a Kearse
triple. A pair of Ian Scott free throws and
back-to-back 3-pointers from Baran got Rollins rolling again as the
Tars used a pair of fade-away jumpers to pull to within one, 60-59
with five minutes to play.
The Tars then got it done on the defensive end took a 63-62 lead
behind a pair of Baran free throws. Wolf then took over, hitting a
free throw, 3-pointer and four straight from the stripe to pull
away to the 72-65 win.
Rollins advances to the tournament final for the ninth time in
school history and second straight season. In the 2009 final,
Rollins lost in overtime to Florida Southern, 77-76.
Fans can catch the Tars quest for the SSC title live on the Tars
Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on 91.5, FM
WPRK.
