BOCA RATON, FL – Senior guard Tionne Rollins poured in 28 points on a near-perfect shooting night and Francis Marion University held off a late Lynn University rally to claim a 93-85 victory, Friday night (Nov. 25) in non-conference men's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion improves to 3-1 with its third straight win.  The Patriots will conclude their weekend trip to the Sunshine State with a 4 p.m. tip-off at third-ranked Nova Southeastern University (4-0) on Saturday.
 
Rollins canned 9-of-10 field goal attempts, including 3-of-4 from behind the three-point arc, and was 7-of-8 at the foul line.  He also handed out four assists.  Sophomore 6-8 center Jonah Pierce scored 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and hauled down six rebounds.
 
FMU forward Bryce Beamer tallied 11 points, while sophomore swingman Nick Silva scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds, and senior guard Alex Cox also scored 10.
 
Nordin Kapic paced Lynn (1-3) with 25 points and 14 rebounds, while Jamison Evans scored 24 points.
 
With a starting line-up that included four Florida natives, Francis Marion played its most complete half of the year over the opening 20 minutes.  After allowing Lynn the game's opening six points, FMU stormed back with a 12-0 run and would never trail again.  Beamer fueled the spurt with a pair of three-pointers.
 
The margin would later grow to 17-9, then 26-14, 46-31, and finally 56-40 on a pair of Rollins' free throws just before halftime.  The Knights would trim the margin to 56-43 at intermission.  During the first stanza, FMU shot 55.9 percent from the floor, hit 7-of-15 three-point attempts, and was a perfect 11-of-11 on free throws, while committing only five turnovers.
 
The advantage ballooned to 17 twice early in the second half, the latter time on a Pierce dunk with 17:52 left.  Lynn gradually crept to within 69-63 with 12:35 left, but a Pierce lay-in capped another strong FMU push and the margin was 85-71 with 6:19 on the clock.
 
Lynn made one final attempt at a comeback closing to within a bucket at 87-85 following a three-pointer by Evans with 2:05 remaining.  That would be the Knights' final points as Pierce answered with a dunk off a feed from Beamer, Rollins hit a one-handed floater to beat the shot clock, and two insurance free throws in the final seconds produced the road win.
 
For the game, FMU shot 53 percent, including 7-of-20 from long range, and 16-of-21 at the free throw stripe.  Lynn connected on 44.9 percent of its shots, was 10-of-31 from deep, and hit 13-of-20 charity tosses.
 
Francis Marion held a commanding 50-38 advantage in points in the paint.
 
 
11/25/22 7:00 pm at Boca Raton, FL
FRANCIS MARION 93, LYNN 85
FRANCIS MARION (3-1)
Tionne Rollins 9-10 7-8 28; Jonah Pierce 8-10 0-1 16; Bryce Beamer 4-10 2-2
11; Nick Silva 4-10 2-2 10; Alex Cox 3-5 2-2 10; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 4-10 0-2
9; Yohan-Steve Yebga 2-6 3-4 7; Darius Jones 1-3 0-0 2; Doug Alves 0-2 0-0
0. Totals 35-66 16-21 93.
LYNN (1-3)
Nordin Kapic 10-15 3-4 25; Jamison Evans 8-16 4-6 24; Jimel Lane 5-11 3-3
14; Jalen Gilmore 5-10 1-2 13; Braxton Bartlett 2-4 0-0 5; Montez Leath 1-8
1-3 3; Rickey Ballard 0-0 1-2 1; JP Baron 0-1 0-0 0; Esteban Lluberes 0-4
0-0 0. Totals 31-69 13-20 85.
Halftime: Francis Marion 56 Lynn 43
3-point goals--Francis Marion 7-20 (Tionne Rollins 3-4; Alex Cox 2-3; Bryce
Beamer 1-5; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 1-3; Darius Jones 0-2; Nick Silva 0-3), Lynn
10-31 (Jamison Evans 4-10; Jalen Gilmore 2-5; Nordin Kapic 2-2; Braxton
Bartlett 1-2; Jimel Lane 1-2; JP Baron 0-1; Esteban Lluberes 0-3; Montez
Leath 0-6). Fouled out--Francis Marion-None, Lynn-None. Rebounds--Francis
Marion 35 (Nick Silva 6; Jonah Pierce 6; Yohan-Steve Yebga 6), Lynn 42
(Nordin Kapic 14). Assists--Francis Marion 20 (Farid SaintCyr Jr. 4; Tionne
Rollins 4; Bryce Beamer 4), Lynn 16 (Esteban Lluberes 5). Total
fouls--Francis Marion 20, Lynn 18. Technical fouls--Francis Marion-Tionne
Rollins, Lynn-Jalen Gilmore; Jimel Lane.