LAS VEGAS, Nev. (December 22, 2019) – Rollins held off a late Montana State-Billings charge to win the championship game of the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic 58-54 on Sunday.
The win is the Tars fourth-straight and closes the first leg of the season with a record of 8-3. The Yellow Jackets fall to 5-5.
Brooks Cluxton led the way with 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks. Jakobi Bonner netted 14. Hutton Yenor scored six-straight in the final 90 seconds to seal the win for the Tars and ended the day with 10 points.
Zharon Richmond paced the Yellow Jackets with 17 points and nine rebounds. Brendan Howard scored 19 to go along with eight rebounds.
Rollins shot 44 percent and held MSU-Billings to just 37 percent from the field, including 6-of-27 from beyond the arc.
The back and forth game featured 11 lead changes and six ties.
After trailing early, Rollins ended the first half on an 11-3 run and took a 28-23 lead into intermission.
The Tars started the second on fire and pushed its lead to 39-27 on a Bonner three-pointer with 14:47 to play. The Yellow Jackets came out strong after timeout and cut the lead to 45-41 just four minutes later.
The game was tied at 52 with 3:38 to play before a nearly two minute scoring drought for both teams. Yenor then took over and willed the Tars to victory. After a MSU turnover, he hit a tough runner in the lane with 1:35 on the clock to put Rollins back on top. The Tars got a stop on defense and Yenor sank a turn around jumper from the elbow to make it a four-point spread.
The Yellow Jackets scored to make it a two-point game with 46 seconds to play. Yenor then drove the right side and hit a layup while falling to the ground with 19 seconds left and get Rollins back up by two possessions. He then snagged the rebound off a Yellow Jackets miss with six seconds left to seal the win.
Rollins is off for the holiday break and will be back in action on January 2, hosting Saint Leo in Sunshine State Conference play. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Warden Arena. Fans can catch the action live on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on 91.5 FM WPRK.
