SAINT LEO, Fla. (February 8, 2020) – Rollins held Saint Leo scoreless over the final 3:07 of the game and grabbed a 65-62 win over the Lions on Saturday night.
Rollins stayed in place for a bid the Sunshine State Conference Tournament, moving to 12-10 overall and 6-8 in league play.
Connor Mckim led the way with 17 points. Hutton Yenor added 15 while Jakobi Bonner scored 13. Trevor Recio hauled in 12 rebounds.
Kyran McClure led Saint Leo (14-9, 8-7 SSC) with a game-high 31 points. The senior hit nine 3-pointers and went 4-5 at the free throw line. Isaiah Hill added eight points.
Playing a rare Saturday night game, the Tars trudged through a slow start and fell into a 15-5 hole after eight minutes of play. Rollins came back with a 12-3 run over the next six minutes and pulled to within 18-17 after a Yenor triple.
The Tars tied the score three more times down the stretch, but couldn't get over the hump and went into the locker room deadlocked with Leo 34-34.
Mckim hit from deep early in the second to give the Tars its first lead of the game, 37-34. The game would then see five ties and four lead changes over the next 10 minutes with Dayton Gumm drawing the Tars even 49-49 with 10:28 to play.
After Leo went on a small run, Yenor hit a big fast break three-pointer at the 5:16 mark to knot the score at 60. Both teams were scoreless the next two minutes until a Brooks Cluxton free throw put the Tars in front.
Saint Leo quickly got the lead back on a Malik Fuller lay-up, but that would be the last score for the Lions the rest of the night. The Tars held Leo to just 0-2 shooting with two turnovers down the stretch while coming up with two big offensive rebounds to burn clock.
Layups by Mckim with 2:44 left and another by Yenor with 1:34 to play proved to be the difference for the Tars.
Rollins is back in action on Wednesday, February 12 at Florida Southern. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. in Lakeland. Fans can catch the action live on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on 91.5 FM WPRK.
