Tars Outlast Spartans on the Road

Rollins

59 -

58

Tampa

Box Score

TAMPA, Fla. (January 23, 2016) - On a night when offense didn't come easy, Rollins held on late to defeat Tampa, 59-58, on the road. With the win, the Tars sweep the season series after defeating the Spartans back in November, 86-75.

Rollins now sits at 13-6 overall and 6-3 in the SSC while Tampa falls to 5-13, including 1-8 in conference play.

As a team, the Tars shot just shy of 43 percent (21-49) for the game but hit just 50 percent from the free throw line (11-22). Tampa finished 21-63 (33 percent), including 11-38 from beyong the arc (29 percent).

Joey Galvis led all scorers with 14 points on 6-7 shooting to go aloing with five rebounds. Sam Philpott also finished in double figures with 11. Jeff Merton and Alex Blessig both had identical scoring lines of nine points and five rebounds.

For Tampa, Austin Rettig scored 12 to lead the way while Marcel Robinson added 11. Duke Shelton had seven points, eight rebounds and five blocks.

Both teams started slow, combining to go 2-14 over the first five minutes of the half with the score tied a 2-2.

Tampa would eventually go up 7-4 at the 13:38 mark before Rollins came back with seven straight, taking an 11-7 lead after a Jack Fleming three with 10:29 left in the half.

The Spartans would come back to tie it at 12-12 before regaining the lead at the 8:06 mark, 15-12, on a Darien McClain three.

Rollins then came back with 12 unanswered, with Philpott accounting for four, making it 24-15 at the 3:35 mark.

Tampa closed the half with a run of their own, cutting the Tars' lead to 25-21 heading into intermission.

Philpott led Rollins with seven points in the half on a perfect 2-2 from the field while Galvis chipped in four. The Tars bench accounted for 18 points in the first. Tyler Zacur led all scorers with nine for the Spartans. As a team, the Tars shot 33 percent in the first half and Tampa hit 27 percent from the field.

The Tars would extend the lead back to seven early in the second after Mike Bedulskis hit a three from the top of the key at the 19:22 mark, his first of the year.

Tampa would again battle all the way back, regaining the lead, 32-30, with 16:20 left to play and pushed it to a four point advantage two minutes later.

Later, a 7-2 Rollins run gave the Tars a one-point lead, 41-40, with 11:42 left before both teams traded blows, with the Spartans taking a 47-46 lead with under 10 on the clock.

The Spartans would eventually go up four, their largest lead of the game, with less than seven minutes left before Rollins would come back to tie it at 52-52 at the 5:41 mark.

After Tampa went up three, Blessig scored five in a row for the Tars, giving Rollins a 57-55 lead with 2:03 left.

The Tars lead would move to four before a Marcel Robinson three cut it to a one-point game with 40 seconds on the clock.

Tampa would get the ball back with Rollins leading 59-58 but James Ferrell blocked a Pat Bacon three-point attempt as time expired to escape with the win.

Rollins will take a week off before hosting Embry-Riddle next Saturday, January 30^th at 4 p.m. Fans that cant make it to the game, can watch all the action live on the Gieco Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com