WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- Despite four Sailfish finishing the night in double-digit scoring figures, the Rollins College Tars (13-8, 7-5 SSC) proved to be too much to handle for Palm Beach Atlantic (9-10, 5-7 SSC) as the Tars defeated the Sailfish 80-72 Saturday afternoon.

Malek Barber led the way offensively for the Sailfish Saturday afternoon, as the Sophomore finished with 18 points, and was one rebound shy of a double-double. The North Port, Fla. native connected on 6-of-8 attempts from the field, making one of two attempts from distance and was 5-of-6 from the stripe. 

The ‘Fish jumped out to an early advantage over the Tars, extending their lead to 13 points with 14:04 remaining in the first half courtesy of a three-pointer from Milos Kostic. The Tars chipped away at the Sailfish lead over the remainder of the first half until it was just a 38-37 game going into the half. 

The Sailfish controlled things to open the second half as well, but only saw a minor lead, being up 42-37 with 17:49 remaining. Two made free throws from Rollin’s Jeff Merton tied the contest and gave the Tars their first lead of the game at the 15:14 mark. A Shavanno Cooper layup on the ensuing possession reclaimed the lead for PBA, but a three-pointer from Rollin’s Connor McKim at the 14:05 mark gave the Tars a 50-48 advantage, a lead they would fail to relinquish for the remainder of the contest. 

Also finishing in double-figures on the afternoon for the Sailfish were Bakari Warthen, Dakota Zinser, and Kostic. Warthen finished with 13 points, hitting one from distance and knocking down 6-of-10 from the charity stripe. Zinser and Kostic both finished with a dozen, as Kostic connected from distance on four occasions. 

As a team, PBA shot 40 (24-of-60) percent from the field, only hitting 24.1 (7-of-29) percent from distance. The ‘Fish were hurt by poor free-throw shooting, only hitting 58.6 (17-of-29) percent from the stripe. The Tars finished the afternoon connecting on 44.4 (28-of-63) including 36 (9-of-25) percent from distance, but hitting 78.9 (15-of-19) percent from the stripe helped the Tars out in the end. 

The Sailfish return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 1 as they host Nova Southeastern University with a tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game is also featuring a double promotion night, as it is PBA Jam The Gym and also Arrigo Night. Fans will have a chance to win a 2017 Fiat 500, as well as $10,000 cash, and several other cash prizes.