WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 14, 2024) - Men's basketball played a phenomenal first half on Wednesday, shooting 61% and leading at the half. Unfortunately, they could not keep up the pace, and fell to the Embry-Riddle Eagles by a score of 94-81. The loss drops Rollins to 8-15, 5-11 SSC on the year.
The first half was electric as the two teams went blow for blow with one another. There were eleven lead changes, and neither team ever led by more than seven points.
Rollins scored on five of their first six possessions, led by five points from
Sergey Grishaev. After Malcolm Whitlow led an Eagles come back, a
Cade Long three tied the game at 14 at the first media timeout.
The Tars controlled the next segment of the game, with
Kyle Marion scoring twice and
Dylan Wolle adding a pair of threes. The redshirt freshman then added an exclamation point to his box score with an emphatic baseline dunk to put Rollins up 31-24.
Embry-Riddle continued to chip away, and would retake the lead on a Whitlow three with 6:47 to play.
Matheus Silveira then took the reigns on offense, scoring five points for Rollins and regaining the lead at 42-39. After a quick 6-0 run from the Eagles gave them the lead once more Marion drained a step-back three to make the halftime score 48-47 in the Tars' favor.
Rollins was 19-31 from the floor in the first half, including 7-11 from three.
Unfortunately, the second half was a completely different story. Embry-Riddle hit a three on their first possession to reclaim the lead, and they would not give it up for the rest of the game. Part of the reason was a strong regression from the Rollins shooters. The Tars did not convert a field goal until a Wolle jumper from the elbow at the 13:32 mark, making it 68-53.
The game took a wild turn under the thirteen minute mark when Marion hit a jumper to make the score 70-56. Something on the play upset ERAU coach Steve Ridder, who was assessed a technical foul. That sparked a run for Rollins, who would climb all the way to back to 74-71 thanks to a barrage of offense from Marion.
Rollins' comeback would fall short as they could never get all the way back in the game. A stunning amount of whistles went against Rollins in the next few minutes, which not only put the Eagles on the line a bunch, but also fouled out Marion and Silveira. With their top two scorers out, Rollins could not keep up with the high-flying Eagles, who would end up with a 94-81 win.
Marion ended the game with 25 points on 10-18 shooting, three rebounds and five assists. Wolle added 17, and Silveira was good for 14 points and five rebounds. Whitlow led Embry-Riddle with 22.
Next up for Rollins is a road match with the Tampa Spartans. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 pm on Saturday.
