MIAMI SHORES, Fla. (December 10, 2022) - The men's basketball team snapped their small losing skid, taking a big conference road win at Barry on Saturday, 86-79. The victory moves Rollins to 4-4 on the year, and 1-2 in SSC play. Barry falls to 3-3 with an identical 1-2 conference record.
The Tars' game plan was to run their offense through big man
Matheus Silveira early on, and it worked well. With his size advantage, the Brazilian was able to two layups and a dunk in the first three minutes of the game to put Rollins up 8-4. After Barry clawed their way back into the game thanks to hot shooting from Nick Anderson, the Tars were able to counter with three triples from
Cody Potter, the last of which put them ahead 23-22.
Rollins went cold for a spell while the Bucs continued their hot shooting, leading to a 33-25 Barry advantage. Undeterred, the Tars came storming back with a layups from
Kyle Marion and
Hutton Yenor, two Marion free throws, and a three from
John Latimer III, to regain the lead at 34-33. As the half winded down, each team made it to the free throw line a decent amount as the persona fouls stacked up on both sides. A last-second three from Mailk Stanley made it 42-41 in favor of Rollins heading into the break.
Potter and Silveira each had nine points in the first half to lead the Tars. Anderson put up 16 in the first period for Barry.
Barry took a quick lead in the second half on back-to-back threes, but Yenor was able to keep things tight with a pair of buckets. Around the 15 minute mark,
Cameron Corcoran knocked down a big three for Rollins, tying the game up at 52.At 12:38 remaining, Barry went up 56-53 on a layup. It would be the last time in the game that they held a lead. Latimer III tied the game up with a three, followed by makes in the paint from Silveira and Yenor.
An 8-0 run blew the game open for Rollins, highlighted by a monster jam from Silveira and a three from Marion. Every time Barry scored to get closer, the Tars were ready to answer, and maintained their lead. That lead went as high as 11 points when Yenor grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in to put Rollins up 76-65 with 3:42 to go.
With under two minutes to go, Barry stepped up their pressure on defense, forcing a pair of Rollins turnovers. They converted the extra possessions, and pulled all the way within three at 82-79 with 31 seconds to go. Thankfuly, Marion and Latimer III were both able to make a pair of clutch free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 86-79 win.
It was a full team effort in this one as four different Tars scored at least 14 points. Marion was the leading scorer with 18, while Silveira went for 17 and nine rebounds. Latimer III had 16 off the bench, and Yenor chipped in 14 with a team-high five assists. Anderson ended the with 29 points, including eight threes, to lead the Barry attack.
Next up for Rollins is the annual trip to Las Vegas for the Holiday Shootout. This year's slate is a doozy, with the Tars taking on #23 Dominican (NY) on Sunday, December 18 and #11 Missouri-St. Louis on Monday, December 19.
