WINTER PARK, Fla. (November 19, 2022) - A packed Warden Arena was treated to a fantastic matchup between Rollins and Embry-Riddle, but were sent home disappointed after the Eagles snuck past the Tars with an 88-82 win. Rollins drops to 1-2 on the year, and now 0-1 in the SSC. Embry-Riddle is undefeated at 3-0 on the young season.
The game was controlled by the Tars early on. The first bucket went to
Matheus Silveira on a nice pass from
Kyle Marion, followed by a pull-up jumper from
Hutton Yenor and a three from
Cade Long. Silveria then continued to establish a presence down low, converting back-to-back layups to make it 11-7. Next up, moments later, was
Cameron Corcoran who splashed two straight from deep to extend the lead to 19-13. That sparked a 9-0 run for the Tars, who, after makes from Yenor and
Jaden Frazier, found themselves up 25-13 with twelve minutes left in the half.
Embry-Riddle scored eight straight after the media timeout, pulling all the way back 26-23. To put a stop the the Eagles momentum,
John Latimer III finished with a tough left-handed layup, followed by a monster jam from Yenor on a steal. Yenor then stroked a three on the next possession to put Rollins up ten again, 33-23.
The two teams answered each other, score for score, foul for foul, and turnover for turnover for the next few minutes. The Eagles got two buckets with under a minute to go, but the Tars had the last laugh when Marion nailed a three to give Rollins a 51-46 lead at half. Both teams were incredibly efficient with shooting splits of 57/58/60% for the Eagles and 68/54/33% for the Tars. Rollins was 21-31 from the floor in the first twenty minutes.
The second half saw the Eagles slowly chip away at the Tars, thanks in part to the whistle. Rollins was called for twelve fouls in the half, leading to 15 free throws for Embry-Riddle. Still, they maintained a lead for most of the half with some huge plays from Kyla Marion, who was seemingly all over the court. He racked up a game-high six steals, which led to valuable fast-break opportunities for the Tars. A rare scoring lull occurred from 16 minutes to 13 minutes to go, as neither team could find a point. At the 13:10 mark, Embry-Riddle converted a pair of free throws to take a 59-58 lead, their first since the third minute of the game.
A pair of triples, followed by a Danny Sully dunk have ERAU another lead, 67-65, with ten minutes to go. Each of the next tree baskets changed the lead of the game. In all, the two teams tied each other four times, and had 13 lead changes in the match.
Fast forward to 90 seconds left, with the Eagles up by four. Yenor found himself with space in the corner off a feed from Marion, and knocked down a huge three to pull the Tars within one. After the Eagles missed a shot on their end, Marion found a streaking Yenor who finished a fastbreak layup with 66 seconds left and the Tars up one, 82-81. Unfortunately, that would be the final point for the Tars. Embry-Riddle responded instantly with a three from Malcolm Whitlow to go up 84-82, and then knocked down their free throws to end up with the 88-82 final.
Yenor finished with a team-high 22 points. Marion stuffed the stat sheet with totals of 16 points, three threes, eight rebounds, seven assists, and six steals. Silveira added 17 points on 8/9 from the floor. Embry-Riddle had seven players score at least nine points in this one.
Next up for the Tars is a Monday night game against Puerto Rico - Bayamon. Tip is set for 7:00 pm on November 21 in Winter Park.
