WINTER PARK, Fla. (November 20, 2023) - Men's basketball put up their top offensive performance of the young season on Monday, outscoring the Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Tarzans 89-75. The win moves Rollins to 2-2 on the year, while Mayaguez is 0-1.
Per tradition,
Cody Potter was the first Tar on the board with a game-opening three pointer. It's the third time this season that Potter scored the first points for Rollins. A couple of threes put the Tarzans on top early, but two shots from
Matheus Silveira regained the lead for the Tars.
Coming out of the media timeout, the Tars forced a pair of turnovers, and ballooned their lead to 15-8. It would expand further when Potter nailed another triple and Silveira knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 20-10. Rollins would enjoy their largest lead of the half at the nine-minute mark when
Jaden Frazier's hook shot made it 27-14.
The Tars' defense stepped up in a big way to close out the half, limiting Mayaguez to seven points in the last six minutes. They would take a 41-27 lead into the break.
The Tarzans managed just 29.4% shooting from the field in the first half compared to Rollins' 44.4%.
The second half was much more competitive as both teams poured in 48 total points.
Initially, Rollins outscored Mayaguez 6-0 leading into the first media timeout.
Cody Potter flushed a dunk off a turnover to make it a 51-32 Tars lead.
The game turned chippy as Mayaguez was called for a slew of fouls, putting the Tars into the bonus early. However, the aggression paid off on occasion as the Tarzans forced eight second half turnovers and made things interesting, whittling the lead down to ten with two minutes to go. Rollins received a big three from
Cade Long, and a fastbreak layup from Silveira to quell the threat as they cruised the rest of the way to a 89-75 win.
Rollins had five players score in double digits, led by Silveira's 18 and nine boards. Potter was right behind him with 17 points, including four triples.
Kyle Marion chipped in 13, Long had 11 and six assists, and
Sergey Grishaev added 11 with seven rebounds.
Next up for Rollins is their fifth-straight home game. They will host Puerto Rico-Bayamon on Wednesday, November 22 at 3:00 pm.
