2008 Woodie Awards
Rollins Falls Short of 2nd SSC Tourney Title
Juan Bernal
Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: Sports
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After the Rollins Men's Basketball team accomplished their goal of winning a share of their fourth regular season title in five seasons, the next step was to try to capture their second consecutive conference tournament title. The team would travel to Boca Raton on March 1-4 in order to try to accomplish that goal.
In the first game, the men would face the eight seeded Florida Tech Panthers, whom the Tars had beaten twice in the regular season. The first three minutes summed up the story of the game for both teams. The Tars billed an early eight point lead and would lead by as much as 19 in the first half. In the half the Tars bench outscored the Panthers 20-0. In the second half, it was more of the same from the Tars. The Panthers would creep back to within six points with 13:29 left in the half. However, the Tars would go on an 18-5 run in the next five minutes of the game to bury the Panthers. The Tars would end up taking the game 80-65, and move on to Saturday's semifinal match-up with the Nova Southeastern Sharks. Johnny Reibel led four Tars in double figures with 17 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals. Kevin Hogan added 16 points on 4 of 6 from the field. Isaac Codrey and John Thinnes would wound out the double figure scorers with 11 and 10 points respectively.
Saturday's match-up with the fifth seeded Sharks loomed as a potential pitfall for the Tars. The Tars escaped the regular season with two victories over the Sharks by a combined three points. Saturday's ballgame looked more like a war than a basketball game. "There were 50 fouls called in the game, and there could have been 100, this was as physical a game as we played all year. Our kids kept their poise, and I'm proud of them for that," said Coach Tom Klusman after the game. The Tars would jump out to an early 20-10 lead and spent the whole game hanging on to the lead, surviving numerous runs by a desperate Sharks team, who was picked to finish second in the conference at the beginning of the season, but instead finished a disappointing 8-8 in conference play and 14-15 for the season. John Thinnes' third three pointer of the half with 34 seconds left in the half gave Rollins a 36-23 lead that they would end up taking into the halftime locker room.
In the first game, the men would face the eight seeded Florida Tech Panthers, whom the Tars had beaten twice in the regular season. The first three minutes summed up the story of the game for both teams. The Tars billed an early eight point lead and would lead by as much as 19 in the first half. In the half the Tars bench outscored the Panthers 20-0. In the second half, it was more of the same from the Tars. The Panthers would creep back to within six points with 13:29 left in the half. However, the Tars would go on an 18-5 run in the next five minutes of the game to bury the Panthers. The Tars would end up taking the game 80-65, and move on to Saturday's semifinal match-up with the Nova Southeastern Sharks. Johnny Reibel led four Tars in double figures with 17 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals. Kevin Hogan added 16 points on 4 of 6 from the field. Isaac Codrey and John Thinnes would wound out the double figure scorers with 11 and 10 points respectively.
Saturday's match-up with the fifth seeded Sharks loomed as a potential pitfall for the Tars. The Tars escaped the regular season with two victories over the Sharks by a combined three points. Saturday's ballgame looked more like a war than a basketball game. "There were 50 fouls called in the game, and there could have been 100, this was as physical a game as we played all year. Our kids kept their poise, and I'm proud of them for that," said Coach Tom Klusman after the game. The Tars would jump out to an early 20-10 lead and spent the whole game hanging on to the lead, surviving numerous runs by a desperate Sharks team, who was picked to finish second in the conference at the beginning of the season, but instead finished a disappointing 8-8 in conference play and 14-15 for the season. John Thinnes' third three pointer of the half with 34 seconds left in the half gave Rollins a 36-23 lead that they would end up taking into the halftime locker room.
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