WINTER PARK, Fla. (November 16, 2024) - Men's basketball hung on for a 75-72 win over the University of Fort Lauderdale Eagles on Saturday. With the win, the Tars move to 3-1 on the year, while UFTL falls to 2-1.
The noon start time seemed to affect the play early as missed shots and turnovers pile dup on both sides. The score was only 6-4 at the first media timeout, with all six Tar points coming from inside the paint. After Lauderdale tied the game at six,
Beau Frericks scored the next five points for Rollins to retake the lead.
Both teams would keep it low scoring as shots failed to fall. A layup from Frericks snapped a nearly six-minute stretch of new made field goals for the Tars. The shot gave Rollins new life though, as
Dylan Wolle knocked down a jumper and
Emilis Butkus finished a nice and-one layup to make it 23-15 with four minutes to go. Butkus would go on to score the next seven Rollins points as well. The half ended on a buzzer-beating three from
Ian Hart off a nice cross-court pass from Frericks, giving the Tars a 37-24 lead at half.
Fort Lauderdale came out of the break on a mission, scoring six paint points on their first three possessions. They would continue to chip away at the lead, forcing Rollins into multiple turnovers thanks to a full court press. Still, the Tars staved them off for a long while, as clutch threes from Hart and Wolle ket the Eagles at bay.
With ten minutes to play, a Jimel Cofer three gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, 52-50. They would go up by as many as six on a Chris Berry fast break layup, making it 60-54 with 6:23 to play.
After a big block from
Sergey Grishaev on the defensive end, Hart knocked down a three, and then did it again on the next possession to bring Rollins back. Two Frericks free throws, followed by a corner triple form Wolle gave the Tars the lead again at 67-64, and they would not relinquish it again. The Eagles pulled within one with under a minute to play, and called timeout. Rollins was able to draw up an iso play for Frericks, who delivered a layup, followed by a Grishaev fast break dunk to put the game away.
Frericks ended the game as the leading scorer with 24 points on 7-13 shooting. He also added three rebounds and six assists. Butkus chipped in 15 points with five boards and four assists. Hart, Wolle, and Grishaev also scored in double figures. Jimel Cofer led the Eagles with 20 points in the loss.
Next up for the Tars is the SSC opener against Palm Beach Atlantic. Rollins will tipoff against the Sailfish on Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00pm from Warden Arena.
