SAINT LEO, Fla. (January 24, 2026) - Men's basketball secured their second consecutive conference win with an 80-63 victory at Saint Leo on Saturday. The Tars now stand at 11-8 overall with a 5-6 mark in SSC play while the Lions drop to 6-13, 1-10 SSC.
After a slow start, the Tars put together three straight scoring possessions near the first media timeout to grab a 9-5 lead. All three buckets from
Jah Nze,
Matus Malovec, and
Jackson Gaffney came in the paint as Rollins used their size and strength advantage to grab an early lead.
Following a small run from the Lions,
Omar Figueroa connected from deep on back-to-back possessions to keep the momentum with the Tars. However, over the next six minutes of play, the two teams would tie the game six separate times, keeping it tight.
Thankfully for Rollins, buckets from
Mayson Quartlebaum,
Ricky Ghedini, and Figueroa (right before the buzzer) had them ahead 37-31 at half. The Tars shot 43% from the floor in the first twenty minutes, but struggle from deep as they went 3-14.
The second half saw Quartlebaum use his strength and finesse early as he worked down low for a driving layup as well as a tough three-point play. When Gaffney added another layup at 16:46 remaining, the Tars found themselves ahead 46-33.
Rollins maintained a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game. The Lions would get as close as nine with just under ten minutes to go, but a
William Jobe triple on the ensuing possession had the Tars right back on top. The sophomore big man was solid in the win, posting a season-high twelve points in sixteen minutes off the bench.
To their credit, Saint Leo did keep fighting, and once again made it a single digit lead with two minutes to go, but the Tars were solid at three free throw line, and were able to hang on for an 80-63 win.
Figueroa was the team's high scorer with 20 points, and also added a season-high 11 rebounds to go with four assists. He shot 50% from the floor, and was perfect (6-6) from the line. Quartlebaum scored an efficient 12 points with nine rebounds. Ghedini (11 points) and
Jah Nze (10 points) also cracked double-digits for the Tars.
Rollins was incredibly efficient in the second half, shooting 14-22 (64%) from the floor, 4-6 (67%) from three, and 11-13 (85%) from the charity stripe.
Next up for Rollins is a home matchup against Lynn University on Wednesday, Januar 28. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm from Warden Arena.
