MELBOURNE, Fla. (January 24, 2018) – Seniors Sam Philpott and Jeff Merton combined for 45 points and the Tars defense did the rest as Rollins beat Florida Tech 89-66 Wednesday for a fifth-straight victory.
The Tars moved to 13-7 overall and remained atop the Sunshine State Conference standings, tied with Eckerd at 9-3 in the league. The win also moved head coach Tom Klusman a step closer to 700, now with a career record of 690-400.
Philpott led the way with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting (1-3 three-pointers) from the field and 3-of-3 at the line. Merton netted 21 on a 6-of-15 night, including a trio of three-pointers, and 6-of-6 performance at the stripe. Both players hauled in four rebounds. Eric Castaneda filled the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Parker Davis added nine points off the bench.
Rollins defense held the SSC's top scorer Sam Daniel to 10 points below his average as the Tech star totaled 15 points on the night. Jordan Major led the Panthers with 22 points and six rebounds.
The Tars shot better than 50 percent for the third-straight game, hitting 33-of-64 (52 percent) from the field. That included a solid 10-of-28 three-point shooting night. Tech was just 25-of-66 from the field (38 percent) and were outrebounded by the Tars 39-36.
Merton scored the first bucket of the game to give the Tars the lead, which they wouldn't relinquish the entire night.
A Philpott tip-in at the 10:38 mark put the Tars on top 20-15 before Majors hit a three-pointer for Tech to make it a one point game. Rollins then ran off an 11-1 run, highlighted with a Merton dunk, to take a 31-20 lead with 5:38 left in the half.
Rollins led by as many as 13 in the half and went into the locker room up 39-26 after a Jack Fleming corner three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Tars defense tightened in the second and never let Tech any closer than 11 points. A Philpott score put Rollins on top 50-37 with 15:49 to play and started a run finished by a Merton three-pointer, giving Rollins a 61-40 lead at the 12:35 mark. FIT closed the gap to 17 twice with Rollins going up a game-high 25 in the final minute.
Rollins next hosts Lynn on Saturday, January 27 with tip off set for 4 p.m. in Warden Arena. Fans can follow the action live on the Tars Sports Network and SSC Digital Network at RollinsSports.com.
