WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 26, 2025) - Men's basketball kept things interesting against Florida Southern on Wednesday, but ultimately fell to the Mocs by a final of 93-79. The loss moves Rollins to 16-12 on the year and 9-10 in SSC play while the Mocs improve to 22-7, 13-6 SSC.
In front of an energized crowd at Warden Arena, the Tars jumped out to an early 8-5 lead thanks to
John Latimer III and
Beau Frericks scoring four each in the first two minutes. The Mocs would bounce back quickly though, riding the scoring of Alex Steen and Jadin Booth to go ahead by five at 15-10. To claw back into the game, Rollins turned to their three-point shooting as
William Jobe,
Matus Malovec, and
Ian Hart each knocked down a shot from distance to make it 21-19 in favor of the Tars.
The next few minutes saw multiple ties and lead changes and each side was able to answer their opponents' best effort. The Tars were using all of their available assets as a different player seemingly scored on each possession.
Emilis Butkus in particular took advantage of the smaller Moc guards, working them down low to get easy layups on three of four possessions late in the half. However, the hot shooting Mocs put up five points in the final minute of the first half to hold a 48-43 lead at the break.
After scoring the first two points of the second half, Rollins was outscored 8-0 by Southern before a tough floater in the paint from
Michael Niemann snapped the Tar cold streak. Niemann added a three-pointer just a moment later to help his team pull within two possessions. Grishaev was next on the list to try and spark a comeback, connecting for five points in a span of thirty seconds, but the Mocs were able to stifle the comeback attempt with a big shot from Dominick Denny. Their six-point lead soon grew to twelve, and they would hold a similar margin for the final twelve minutes of play.
Rollins struggled to find clean shots in the last ten minutes of the game, settling for either long jumpers or contested drives. Despite the best efforts of Butkus, who scored nine points in teh second half, the Tars could not get closer than ten points late, and would end up on the losing end of a 93-79 game.
Frericks led the Rollins offense with 22 points on 7-11 shooting with two rebounds and three assists. Grishaev added 18 points and seven boards, while Butkus contributed 15 points and five rebounds. After shooting 56% in the first half, Rollins only managed to convert 37% of their shots in the second.
Prior to Wednesday's contest, the coaching staff recognized three graduating seniors ... Frericks, Grishaev, and
Braxton Barnhizer ... in front of family and fans.
Rollins will wrap up the regular season on Saturday when they head to Davie, Florida for a matchup against #2 Nova Southeastern. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 pm on March 1st.
