Tech Falls in Mens Semi-Finals 80-65

BOCA RATON, Fla. — The #1 seed Rollins College Tars (23-5) defeated the #8 seed Florida Tech Panthers (10-21) in the second men’s game of the day at the
deHoernle Center during the semi-final round of the 2007 Sunshine State Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament hosted by Lynn University.

For the first time this season, Florida Tech’s entire starting line-up hit double figures breaking a season record for both the starting five all
propelling past ten points along with any five Panthers breaking double digits.

Fellow juniors EJ Murray (Rockledge, Fla.), second team All SSC member, and Jod Kelley (McCormick, S.C.) tied for Tech’s game high at 14 points. Kelley
also pulled down six boards.

“You either play hard or go home, and we just didn’t play hard enough for 40 minutes,” said McNally.

Sophomore Ryan Ballard (Melbourne, Fla.) and junior Carl McNally (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) were one point off their teammates finishing with 13 points apiece.
Ballard hit three treys with four rebounds and three assists. McNally led Tech defensively notching seven rebounds.

“I don’t think, as a team, we shot the ball particularly well, “ said Ballard. “I didn’t shoot the ball well either and we just couldn’t get it going.”

Freshman Justin Sedlak (Pezinik, Slovakia) added eleven points rounding out the scoring for the Panthers.

“They got 30 points of offense from their bench,” said Tech’s head coach Billy Mims. “ Hogan, who’s the best sixth man in the conference, had 16 points and
our starters actually outscored their starters by 15 points, but we didn’t get as much out of our bench as they did.”

Rollins scored thirty of their points off the bench with Tech’s subs unable to manage one basket for the game.

Junior point guard Jonny Reibel (Chicago, Ill.), the 2007 SSC Player of the Year, led all scorers with 17 points for the Tars.

Reibel effectively ran the Tars’ offense, dishing out eight assists and pulling down six rebounds along with four steals. Three other Rollins players
scored in the double figures including two starters and on reservist.

Coming off the bench, sophomore Kevin Hogan (Pensacola, Fla.) stayed close to Reibel’s figures putting up 16 points with an impressive shooting percentages
going 4-for-6 from behind the arc and 4-for-4 from the line.

Seniors’ Isaac Codrey (Winter Park, Fla.), second team All SSC member, and John Thinnes (Cincinnati, Ohio) each hit double figures combining for 21 points.
Codrey snatched six rebounds with his eleven points, while Thinnes finished with 10 points.

“The last time we played this team, we won on a buzzer beater in overtime,” said head coach Tom Klusman “We knew we had to come out strong today… the name
of the game at this point is to advance, and we’re advancing.”

Despite the initial basket in the first few second of the game by Kelly, Rollins managed to control the lead the rest of the game.

Florida Tech managed a run to cut the score to five at 10:12 with 27-22 on the scoreboard after a lay-up by Murray. Then Reibel widened the gap by 12 at
6:34 in the first half.

Again the Panthers brought it within seven at 5:18 on a trey by Ballard. But the Tars recouped and pushed the lead to 16 in the final seconds off of a shot
downtown by Hogan. The score was 47-31 at the half.

Florida Tech managed to out-score the Tars in the second half by one 34-to-33 but unfortunately the first half proved to Tech’s demise.

Sedlak brought it to within nine points at 12:09 hitting a free throw which was the closes the Panthers would come to the upset. The Tars would push the
break by 19 points with under a minute left in the game when senior Jon Smith (Hamilton, Ohio) made one from behind the arc.

Tech would answer back with Ballard finally hitting his rhythm from the three point range, although a little to late, making back-to-back treys to finish
the game 80-65.

#1 Rollins will continue on to the quarterfinals tomorrow at facing the #4 seed Nova Southeastern at the 5:00 p.m. game of the men’s bracket of the SSC
Basketball Tournament.

Newspaper Box Score
Florida Tech vs Rollins College
03/02/07 2:30 p.m. at Boca Raton, Fla. (de Hoernle Center)

ROLLINS COLLEGE 80, FLORIDA TECH 65

FLORIDA TECH (10-21)
MURRAY, EJ 6-18 0-0 14; KELLEY, Jod 6-7 2-2 14; McNALLY, Carl 6-11 1-1 13;
BALLARD, Ryan 3-11 4-4 13; SEDLAK, Justin 5-11 1-3 11; CLARK, Damien 0-1 0-0
0; RICHARDSON, Arthur 0-0 0-0 0; ZELLER, Sean 0-0 0-0 0; MRKSIC, Janko 0-2
0-0 0; WOODSON, Donovan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 8-10 65.

ROLLINS COLLEGE (23-5)
REIBEL, Jonny 6-8 2-3 17; HOGAN, Kevin 4-6 4-4 16; CODREY, Isaac 4-9 2-2 11;
THINNES, John 4-12 0-0 10; TROUPE, Deon 3-7 1-1 8; SWEENEY, Greg 2-2 1-2 5;
SMITH, Jon 2-3 0-0 5; KOLOSEY, Jordan 1-2 2-2 4; REICHEL, Craig 2-3 0-0 4.
Totals 28-52 12-14 80.

Florida Tech……………… 31 34 – 65
Rollins College…………… 47 33 – 80

3-point goals–Florida Tech 5-19 (BALLARD, Ryan 3-8; MURRAY, EJ 2-8;
McNALLY, Carl 0-1; SEDLAK, Justin 0-1; KELLEY, Jod 0-1), Rollins College
12-26 (HOGAN, Kevin 4-6; REIBEL, Jonny 3-4; THINNES, John 2-9; CODREY, Isaac
1-1; TROUPE, Deon 1-4; SMITH, Jon 1-2). Fouled out–Florida Tech-None,
Rollins College-None. Rebounds–Florida Tech 27 (McNALLY, Carl 7), Rollins
College 34 (CODREY, Isaac 6; REIBEL, Jonny 6; TROUPE, Deon 6).
Assists–Florida Tech 10 (BALLARD, Ryan 3; MURRAY, EJ 3), Rollins College 21
(REIBEL, Jonny 8). Total fouls–Florida Tech 14, Rollins College 12.
Technical fouls–Florida Tech-None, Rollins College-None. A-207
ID-534277
Sunshine State Conference Championships – Game 8