WINTER PARK, Fla. (November 21, 2022) - The Rollins Tars find themselves back in the win column following a 13-point win over Puerto Rico Bayamon on Monday. Rollins now sits at 2-2 (0-1 SSC) on the season.
Rollins went up early with a make from
Matheus Silveira, and a three from
Hutton Yenor. After shaking off a few misses and turnovers, the Vaqueros found their offense, and came back to tie things up at eight, and then thirteen. The spark came from Bryan Gonzalez, who had trouble missing all night long.
Coach
Tom Klusman was eager to get as many players in the game as possible, facing a Bayamon squad that only suited up ten. The Tars were helped by solid play from
Jaden Frazier and
Sergey Grishaev, who both impacted the game on offense and defense. After a Gonzalez layup gave the Vaqueros a 22-21 lead, Grishaev took it right back with a big three. That was followed by a pair of triple from
John Latimer III, putting Rollins up 30-25.
Rollins slowly extended their lead throughout the first half, relying heavily on the three ball. In the first half, the Tars shot 9-17 (53%) from deep. They would take a 47-36 lead into the half.
The second half played to the same script as the first. Gonzalez continued to fill it up for Bayamon while the Tars spread the wealth and showcased their shooting strokes. Back-to-back threes from Potter, followed by a
Cade Long layup and a Silveira free throw gave them a 17 point lead with 17 minutes to go.
The lead would grow as high as 22, but Bayamon never stopped playing hard. Led by Gonzalez, they chopped the lead back down to 11 at 84-73 with four minutes to go. A frustrated Klusman would sub out the offense stick his starters back in to make sure they held on to the lead. They would do so, and ended up closing the game with a final of 92-79.
Potter and Yenor each had 18 to lead the Tars offense, but it was the electric play of Gonzalez that stole the show. The southpaw poured in 49 points for the Vaqueros on 16-26 from the field, 8-14 from three, and 9-10 from the free throw line. He also added five steals on defense. Rollins had ten different players score at least one point.
It''s a quick rest day for Rollins on Tuesday before they suit back up to host the Southeastern Fire on Wednesday at Warden Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 pm.
