MELBOURNE, Fla. (January 21, 2012) - Florida Tech's potent offense got hot in the second half and Rollins couldn't keep pace as the Tars fell to the Panthers 80-74 on the road Saturday.

The result creates a tie atop the Sunshine State Conference standings between the two teams, both with 5-2 marks in league play. Rollins drops to 12-5 on the season while Tech improves to 13-3.

Dave Diakite filled the stat sheet with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists. The junior shot 8-of-10 from the floor, including a 3-pointer, and hit 3-of-5 from the line. Chris Malcolm added 12 points and four blocks while Jeremy Sharpe netted 10.

Jermaine Jackson paced Florida Tech with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists. Anthony Jackson added 15 off the bench while Simon Cummings, the SSC's leading scorer at more than 20 points a game, was held to 14 on just 3-of-13 shooting.

Rollins shot 47 percent (24-51) from the field, including 10-of-26 from beyond the arc. FIT shot 52 percent in the second half and 48 percent (30-63) on the night and outrebounded the Tars 38-27. Rollins had 15 turnovers to just 10 assists while the Panthers tallied nine turnovers and 17 assists.

The Tars opened up a 14-8 lead after the first nine minutes, but a 10-0 Tech run put the hosts up 18-14 with 7:32 to play in the half. Chris Uhle later gave Rollins a 30-29 advantage with a pair of free throws at the 1:40 mark. Derek Hellemann then hit a jumper for Tech and was answered by a Sharpe bucket to give the Tars a 32-31 lead at intermission.

A Brown to Diakite alley-oop to start the second half put the Tars up three in a frantic first 10 minutes that saw four ties and four lead changes.

With 10:55 to play, Ian Scott gave Rollins a 52-51 lead, but Tech rattled off a 13-1 run and posted a 64-53 lead at the 6:45 mark. Malcolm cut the advantage to nine, but that would as close as the Tars would get the rest of the way.

Rollins will look to bounce back and keep pace in SSC play, hosting Nova Southeastern on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. Fans can catch all the action live on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com.