FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Feb. 17, 2010) - The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team lost a hard fought 76-68 decision to #20 Rollins College in Sunshine State Conference action on Wednesday evening. The loss drops the Sharks to 13-11 overall and 6-8 in SSC play while the league leading Tars improve to 20-4 overall and 11-2 in league play.
"Our young guys played hard," said NSU head coach Gary Tuell. "We played reasonably well. It's another good learning experience for the kids. We're playing a team that's ranked in the top 20 and number one in our league. If Rollins is the first place team in our league and we can battle them on even ground most of the night, then we are making good progress."
NSU led for much of the first half but Rollins managed to take a 36-34 lead into the intermission. The Tars extended their lead to as many nine points in the second half before the Sharks closed to within two points with one minute and forty-six second remaining. From that point on Rollins out-scored NSU 8-2 to come away with the 76-68 victory.
"It's frustrating to not be able to close games with wins after we've played so hard and so well but sometimes young kids make mistakes and older players take advantage of that," said Tuell. "I think some of our problems are that we've got young guys making mistakes down the stretch. I certainly can't fault our effort and I can't fault our execution. I thought we played well defensively and we unselfish."
The Sharks were led by junior center Ross Allsop's (Sydney, Australia) double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Brian Cahill (Arlington, Va.) had 14 points and four assists while junior forward Alex Gynes (Nowra, Australia) chipped in with 10 points and three rebounds. Tuell said, "It was great to see Ross Allsop have a great game, it was nice having him back. He's certainly feeling much better and playing much better and we need him down the stretch."
Rollins was led by Myk Brown with 14 points, but limited him to just 2-15 shooting from the floor. 10 of his 14 points came at the free throw line. Reigning SSC Player of the Year Nick Wolf was held to just nine points on 4-9 shooting.
"Rollins is excellent, there is a reason they're in first place in the league," said Tuell. "They're an excellent team and well coached. I thought we did a nice job on them and I'd like to play them again."
The Sharks close the regular season with three games on the road, beginning with a game against Florida Tech on Saturday, February 20th at 4 pm.
