Surging Tars Head To Tampa For Saturday Tilt.

 The surging Rollins College Tars (8-5 1-3 SSC,) winners of three straight head to Tampa (9-3 1-3 SSC) to take on the University of Tampa Spartans Saturday for a 4 PM tip. You can catch all the action on 91.5 FM WPRK Winter Park and on SunshineStateConference.TV from the Bob Martinez Sports Complex with Robert Segal and Jim "Shooter" Ferro on the call. 

 Rollins comes into Saturday's contest riding the momentum of a three game winning streak and a 92-66 pummelling of Florida Tech that was there first conference win this season. Emillis Butkus paced the Tars with 25, Sergey Grishaev added 20 to go along with five blocks, John Latimer notched 19 to go with a career high 10 rebounds, and Beau Frericks scored 11 points, dished out six assists, and grabbed six rebounds. Rollins shot 55.7 percent from the field, a scorching 60.9 percent (14-23) from the 3-point line, and 76.9 percent (10-13) from the free throw line. The Tars are sixth in the SSC scoring 85.8 points per game while on the defensive end they are giving up an SSC fifth best 77 points per contest. Rollins continues to be efficient on the offensive end as they are second in the SSC in field goal percentage (49.2 percent) while they are shooting an SSC best 39.4 percent from the 3-point line. Defensively the Tars are fourth as the opposition shoots 42.9 percent from the floor.  They are near the bottom of the conference in 3-point field goal percentage against as the opposition has shot 35.8 percent from long distance. Rollins is second in the SSC shooting at a 78.9 percent clip from the free throw line as well. On the glass the Tars are fifth in the conference as they out rebound the opposition by 5.1 (37.5-32.4) rebounds per night. The Tars are seventh in turnover margin (-0.15.) They are fifth in assist to turnover ratio (1.50,) block an SSC sixth best 3.46 shots per game, dish out an SSC fourth best 18.6 assists per night, and get an SSC eighth best 7.85 steals per game. Butkus leads the team with an SSC sixth best 17.8  points per game average, he shoots an SSC second best 59.4 percent from the floor, as well as an SSC second best 47.5 percent from the 3-point line. Butkus is making an SSC eighth best 2.4 3-point field goals per contest as well. Frericks is scoring an SSC 10th best 16.8 points per game, shoots an SSC eighth best 87.5 percent from the free throw line, dishes out 4.7 assists per game which is good for sixth in the conference, is sixth in the SSC in assist to turnover ratio (2.3,) while he is eighth in the conference in minutes played (31.5 per night.) Grishaev scores 16.5 points per game, leads the team in rebounding (6.2 per contest,) while he blocks an SSC ninth best 1.2 shots per game. Latimer rounds out the double figures scorers at 14.2 points per game, he shoots an SSC third best 91.2 percent from the free throw line, is 10th in the conference dishing out 3.8 assists per night, while he leads the team and is 10th in the SSC getting 1.9 steals per game. 

 Tampa is coming off a 114-88 loss to #1 Nova Southeastern last time out. Amarion Nimmers led the Spartans with 19 in the defeat, Tyson Leitao added 14, while both Trey Lane and BJ Schaeffer notched 12. Tampa shot 53.7 percent from the field and 39.1 percent (9-23) from the 3-point line in the defeat. As a team Tampa scores an SSC second best 92.2 points per game while they allow an SSC sixth best 80 points per contest. The Spartans shoot 44.1 percent from the field which is eighth in the SSC while the opposition shoots an SSC third best 42.8 percent from the floor. The Spartans are fourth in the SSC shooting 37.9 percent from the 3-point line while guarding the 3-point line UT s also fourth (32.3 percent.) Tampa is the worst free throw shooting team in the conference at 62.3 percent, they are third in the SSC on the glass getting 7.6 (45.0-37.4) more rebounds than the opposition. The Spartans are fourth in turnover margin (4.50) and third in assist to turnover ratio (1.69.) UT blocks 2.58 shots per game which is good for 10th in the SSC and dish out an SSC second best 21.7 assists per game. Tampa also is tied for second in the conference getting 11 steals per night. Bryan Williams leads the team in scoring at 17.7 points per game as he has only played in six contests. Nimmers  is just outside the top 10 in the conference putting up 16.7 points per game while Leitao is second on the team putting up 13.1 points per night. Ryan Blount scores 12.4 points per game to round out the double digit scorers for UT. Leitao leads the SSC in rebounding at 11.3 per night while he is ninth in field goal percentage at 52.2 percent. Blount is shooting an SSC seventh best 41.7 percent from the 3-point line as he is making an SSC seventh best 2.5 triples per game. Trey Lane leads Tampa is second in the SSC getting 2.5 steals per contest. 

The line presented by JuanBernalSportsBooks.com : Tampa by 6

Other SSC Games Saturday: 

Florida Southern-3 @ Lynn 

Florida Tech+9 @ Barry 

Palm Beach Atlantic-7.5 @ Saint Leo 

Nova Southeastern-21.5 @ Eckerd 

SSC Standings: 

Nova Southeastern 4-0 (12-0) 

Embry-Riddle 4-1 (10-3) 

Florida Southern 3-1 (12-2) 

Palm Beach Atlantic 3-1 (10-2) 

Lynn 3-2 (8-3) 

Eckerd 2-3 (7-6) 

Saint Leo 2-3 (7-6) 

Barry 2-3 (6-7) 

Tampa 1-3 (9-3) 

Rollins 1-3 (8-5) 

Florida Tech 0-5 (3-10)