Panthers Take Down Rollins on Senior Day

Carson Clough - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography

The Florida Tech Panthers secured the second seed in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament, with a 12-8 victory over Rollins (7-7, 2-3 SSC) on Senior Day. Florida Tech finished the regular season with a 7-6 record, including 3-2 in the SSC.

Cody Martin finished with four goals to lead the Panthers scoring parade. He had a hat trick with 2:15 left to go in the second quarter. Carson Clough had a goal and two assists, while Nick Wynne and Tyler Covey had a goal and an assist each.

Florida Tech goalie Daniel Flock made 11 saves, while his counterpart Ty Wedekind made 14 saves in the loss. The Panthers took 45 shots, with 26 on goal, while 19 of the Tars 32 shots were on net.

The Panthers never trailed in this contest, but after Logan Sweeney and Ben Abell scored to start the game, Greg Taicher scored back-to-back goals for the Tars, tying the game at two. That was just the beginning of a big day for Taicher, who would go on to score five of Rollins eight goals.

With the score tied at two after the first quarter, Martin scored two goals 1:18 apart and Ryan Land scored eight seconds later, off the face-off, giving the Panthers a 5-2 lead, with 5:59 to go in the half.

Carson Buell scored a man-up goal for the Tars with 3:58 to go and Justin Diamond made it a 5-4 game one minute later, when he scored a man-down goal. That was as close as the visitors would get, as Martin scored his third of the day, 43 seconds later, giving Florida Tech a 6-4 lead at halftime.

Wynne scored his 31st of the season 5:40 into the third quarter and Nate Menninger scored less than two minutes later, doubling up the Tars, 8-4. Dylan Bassham scored for Rollins to make it 8-5, but Martin answered that with a man-up goal to close out the scoring in the third quarter.

Florida Tech went on a three-goal run to start the fourth quarter, with goals from Dylan Riley, Clough and Covey, expanding the Panthers lead to 12-5, with 4:48 to go in the game.
  
Taicher would not let Rollins go down without a fight, scoring the last three goals of the game, within a span of 2 ½ minutes.

For more info: Rollins @ Florida Tech Box Score

Land led the Panthers with eight ground balls. Rollins edged Florida Tech in that category, 47-45. The Panthers were king of the face-off X, winning 15 of 24.

The Panthers are the second-seed in the Sunshine State Conference tournament. They will take on the third-seed Lynn Fighting Knights in the first semifinal on Friday, April 28th. The face-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

Top-seeded Tampa will take on four-seed Florida Southern at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, with the semifinal winners meeting in the title game on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.    




This blog is an extension of our website - Sportslowdown.com
Follow us on Twitter @sports_lowdown

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Panthers Rout Tarzans in Home Opener

Image
Sam Daniel (0) led the Panthers with 22 points in Monday's 110-84 victory After opening the season with two losses in the South Regional Tipoff Classic over the weekend, the Florida Tech Men’s Basketball team took their frustrations out on Puerto Rico-Mayaguez on Monday, with a 110-84 home victory. “It always feels good to home to the friendly confines of the Clemente Center,” said FIT head coach Billy Mims. “I knew when we got back here we’d shoot the ball better and we knocked down 14 threes’ and that’s the way we’re supposed to shoot the basketball.” Florida Tech (1-2) allowed five double-digit scorers in both losses in Atlanta. On Monday, they only allowed three and they had five of their own, led by Sam Daniel , who finished with 22, despite having only four in the first half. “The first half they had a box-and-one one me, pretty much had a player chasing me wherever I went,” Sam said. “It was an excellent job by my teammates stepping up to score the ball an...
Read more

FIT Women Fall Short Against Rollins

Image
The Florida Tech Women’s basketball team made a late run at a comeback Wednesday against Rollins, but ultimately the Tars hung on for a 72-67 Sunshine State Conference win. “It comes down to Rollins wanted that game more than we did,” said Panthers head coach John Reynolds. “I’m thinking that and it hurts me to say something like that, but you can’t come out in a conference game and go 3-for-14 on three’s.” Florida Tech (5-2, 1-2 SSC) led 14-11 after one quarter, The Panthers were within a point at 27-26, but a six-point run by Rollins late in the second helped them outscore the Panthers 25-14 in the quarter and go to the locker room with a 36-28 advantage. The visitors were 5-of-13 beyond the arc in that first half, while the Panthers went 0-for-8. Shequana Harris had eight points and three rebounds in the first 20 minutes, to pace the Panthers. “I think she played as hard and as good as she could,” said Reynolds of Harris. Marie Gilbert gave the Tars a 42-33 adv...
Read more

Tars Big Second Half Beats Panthers

Image
Jordan Majors - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Men’s basketball team had a tough task Saturday, when they traveled to Rollins. For the first 20 minutes, they looked up for it, as they led the Tars 38-32 at the half. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the home team put the pedal to the medal in the second half, scoring 59 points and winning 91-82 in a Sunshine State Conference game. It was the second straight devastating loss in the conference for the Panthers, who dropped a very controversial home game to Saint Leo on Wednesday. “We must be the best first half team in America,” said Florida Tech head coach Billy Mims, in his post-game interview with Jim Mitchell. “But we can’t play 40 minutes of consistency to save or lives.” The Panthers (11-8, 4-6 SSC) were up 12 against Saint Leo and up six at Rollins at the half, but lost both games. Florida Tech got off to a good start Saturday, with Jordan Majors hitting two quick threes. Things sagged...
Read more