Royals Bow Down to Tars

WINTER PARK, Fla. (January 20, 2023) - The Rollins Tars overcame a slow start and ended with a blowout win over the Warner Royals on Friday night, 91-55. Rollins now sits at 9-9 on the season.

The Tars seemed a bit sluggish out of the gate, going into the media timeout with an 8-6 lead. However, they picked up the pace from there, absolutely stifling the Royals attack on defense, and working the ball into quality looks on the offensive side. Leading the way was Hutton Yenor, who scored 18 of his 22 minutes in the first half. The Tars were able to showcase their entire offensive repotoire in this one, with nice baskets inside from Matheus Silveira and Jaden Frazier, along with long distance shooting from Cade Long and Cameron Corcoran. Rollins shot 56% from the floor in the first half and 53% from three on 8-15 from distance. 

Rollins had two separate 10-0 runs, as well as an 8-0 run in the final minute to head into the break up 49-25. 

The second half saw Rollins go on a 15-5 run leading into the first media timeout. That was enough work for the Tars' starters as head coach Tom Klusman emptied the bench for the remainder of the game. 

Coming out of the break, Frazier went to work down low, scoring six straight for the Tars while also grabbing seemingly every rebound in sight. Then, much to the crowd's delight, Brookes Kahlert got hot from deep, nailing three consecutive deep three-pointers. Moments later, a Rivers Lenholt triple made the score 82-34, the largest lead for the Tars in any game this season (48). 

Credit to the Royals who continued to fight all the way through to the last horn. They pulled off a 10-0 run late in the half while holding Rollins scoreless for four minutes. Lenholt added a final three-pointer in the last minute to make the final of 91-55. 

Yenor led all scorers with 22 points in just 21 minutes of action. He also added five rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Silveira was an efficient 78 form the field and finished with 17 points. Corcoran played the distributor role, dishing out seven assists. And Frazier was a beast o the boards, pulling down a season-high 15 while adding seven points. 

The Tars will need the scoring to continue in their next contest. Rollins travels to Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, January 25 to face the undefeated, #2 ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks. Nova took the previous meeting between the two schools a few weeks ago, winning 100-58.