Buzzer Beater Hands Tars Loss in Season Opener

FORT VALLEY, Ga. (November 15, 2025) - Men's basketball suffered a gut punch in the first game of the season, falling to the Fort Valley State Wildcats 76-74 on a last-second three pointer.

The game started slowly on both sides as each offense struggled on offense. Omar Figueroa tallied the first point of the game with a free throw, but the first field goal wasn't until Jackson Gaffney threw down a monster jam at the 16-minute mark. 

The offense continued to find resistance, and didn't have another bucket until Marshall Klug knocked down a three at 11:23. The Tars trailed by as many as ten at 20-10, but they did not give up their fight. A 13-0 run from the Tars that included nine made free throws had them right back in the mix with 6:23 remaining in the first. 

Jah Nze and Figueroa both found their groove late in the half, connecting on triples, including a bomb from Nze with under a minute to play that gave the Tars a 40-37 lead at halftime. 

The second half featured much more drama as the two teams battled and exchanged leads throughout the period. 

Figueroa knocked down a big three around the 16-minute mark, putting Rollins up 53-49. They held the lead for until eight minutes left when a Meka Nnaji layup tied the gme at 64. The game also tied at 66 and then 68 apiece. 

After the four-minute media timeout, Rollins received two free throws from Nze, and a layup from Ryan Renfro to grab a 72-71 lead. Fort Valley answered a bit later with free throws of their own to make it 73-72. 

The Wildcats held the lead until Figueroa nailed a clutch jumper with 37 seconds to go that put Rollins up one. The Tars then got a stop on defense, and were fouled intentionally. Gaffney missed the front end of the one-and-one, and the Wildcats had one last chance. They drew up a play out of a timeout, and watched as Danny Delgado hit a fall away three-pointer to secure thr 76-74 win. 

Figueroa and Nze tied for the team lead with 18 points each. Gaffney added eleven, and Renfro scored ten. The Tars only managed to hit 6-27 of their three-point attempts (22.2%), and were 20-30 (66.7%) from the line. 

After a long drive home, from the Atlanta area, the Tars will be right back it on Sunday, November 16 when they host Union University at Warden Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm.