• Box Score

WINTER PARK, Fla. (Dec. 30) – With the game tied in the final minute, the Vulcans dropped a 57-55 contest to host Rollins on Friday evening in the consolation game of the 37th-annual Rotary Park Tangerine Tournament.

With the loss, the California University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team falls to 6-6 this season after dropping both games at the two-day tournament. Meanwhile, the Tars improve to 8-3 this year after receiving votes in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Top 25 poll.

Senior forward Chad Tipton (Hanover, Pa./South Western) led the team in both scoring and rebounding on Friday evening. He scored 15 points (12 in the first half) on 5-of-12 attempts from the floor and tied his career high with five three-pointers. The 6-5 senior forward also established a career high with nine rebounds (six offensive).

Junior guard Keith Lowe (Columbus, Ohio/Centennial) finished with 12 points after making 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. He also posted three rebounds, three assists and three steals in the loss, while junior swingman Quentin Harding (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) posted 10 points and four rebounds.

Following the championship game on Friday night, Lowe was selected to the all-tournament team after he averaged 13.5 points behind 17-of-19 attempts (89.5 percent) from the free-throw line. He also tallied 2.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals in the two games.

Leading the entire first half, the Vulcans took a 31-26 lead into halftime before the Tars tied the game at 36-36 with 11:25 remaining. Rollins took its first lead of the game on a fastbreak layup during its next possession before Cal U reclaimed the lead with a layup by Harding at the 9:14-mark. The Vulcans stretched their second-half lead to seven points, 53-46, with 4:22 remaining on back-to-back three-point plays by freshman guard Tynell Fortune (Harlem, N.Y./Pocono Mountain West (Pa.)).

Rollins countered with five-straight points to cut the deficit to 53-51 before Lowe converted a pair of free-throws to give Cal U a 55-51 lead at the 2:18-mark. The Tars countered with a pair of free-throws and tied the game with 1:10 remaining on a layup. After a missed three-pointer by Tipton with 44 seconds left, Rollins scored the game-winning layup with 24 seconds remaining. The two teams combined for six ties and three lead changes in the second half.

The Vulcans finished the game shooting 34.8 percent (16-of-46) from the field and 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from beyond the arc. After making only six field-goals in the first half, the Tar made 37.2 percent (16-of-43) from the floor for the game. In the loss, Cal U held a sizeable 38-24 rebound advantage behind 13 offensive rebounds.

Rollins guard Myk Brown led all players with 19 points on 5-of-11 from the floor and seven-of-nine from the charity stripe. Senior Jeremy Sharpe finished with nine points and four assists, while classmate Ian Scott posted eight points.

Cal U returns to action by hosting a pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Crossovers next weekend at the Convocation Center, beginning Jan. 6 against Millersville at 7:30 p.m.