Tars Fall Just Short to PBA

Rollins

72 -

65

Palm Beach Atlantic

Box Score Highlights

WINTER PARK, Fla. (January 16, 2016) - Rollins battled back from a double-digit deficit in the second half and even led with under a minute remaining but eventually dropped a heartbreaker to Palm Beach Atlantic, 88-86.

With the loss the Tars fall to 11-6 while the Sailfish improve to 9-6.

Sam Philpott led the way offensively, finishing with 16 points on 5-6 shooting and went 5-7 at the free throw line. Joey Galvis pitched in with 13 as the only other Rollins player in double digits. Jeff Merton added nine points, a game high seven rebounds, and seven assists.

Michael Simpson led all scorers for PBA, finishing with 29 points on 10-19 shooting, including 8-15 from deep. Malek Barber had 20 while Bakari Warthen added 14 points and five assists.

As a team, the Tars shot 46 percent from the field, assisting on 20 of 27 made buckets. Rollins also turned the ball over just eight times in the losing effort.

Mike Bedulskis accounted for four quick points in the first two minutes as the game was tied at 4-4 at the 17:51 mark.

The game would continue to go back and forth in the early going as PBA held a 9-8 lead at the under-16 media timeout.

A Philpott dunk then began a 10-4 Rollins run, giving the Tars are 18-13 lead with just over 12 minutes left in the half.

The Sailfish would come back and tie the game at 18-18 before back-to-back three's by Galvis made it 24-20 at the 10:12 mark.

PBA would eventually cut it to one at the 6:27 mark, 28-27, before a 7-2 Rollins spurt gave the Tars a 35-29 lead with 3:44 left in the half.

Rollins would lead by as much as eight with just over a minute left in the half but the 'Fish would close with a 8-2 run, cutting it to 43-41 at the half.

Blessig and Galvis led Rollins with eight points each in the first period while Jack Fleming chipped in five. Barber led PBA with a game high 10 in the half.

The Sailfish came out hot in the second half, hitting eight of their first nine shots, five of them from deep, to take a 62-52 at the 15:32 mark.

The deficit would grow to as much as 13 but Philpott came back with six straight points to open a 10-0 Rollins run, cutting it to 67-64 with 11:01 left.

PBA would push it back to a double-digit lead, 77-66, at the 6:58 mark but the Tars came firing back again, this time with a 15-2 run to take a two point lead with 3:10 left to play.

The Rollins lead wouldn't last long, however, as the 'Fish answered with six straight points to take an 85-81 lead with 1:45 remaining and force a Tars timeout.

James Ferrell would run down a long rebound and drill a three from the corner to pull within one before another Rollins stop on defense led to a Ferrell layup, giving the Tars a one-point lead with 28 seconds remaining.

Unfortunately, Simpson came back with his eighth three of the game with 16 seconds left to take the lead for good as the final Tars possession failed to produce a shot.

Rollins will be back in action on Wednesday, January 20^th when they host Florida Southern. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. Fans can watch all the action live on the Geico TSN on RollinsSports.com.