Box Score

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (11-7, 4-4 SSC) held the Florida Southern Moccasins (14-5, 6-2 SSC) to 34 percent shooting but lost on the road Wednesday night, 85-81, in the Jenkins Field House.

John Brooks (Sr., Perris, Calif.) led the team with 25 points, 22 of which came in the second half. John Brooks shot 9-for-13 from the field and 7-for-8 from three-point range. He was two treys away from his own NSU single game record. Brooks now has 145 career three-pointers at NSU and passed Oresti Nitsios (2004-08) for fourth all-time at NSU.

Alex Gynes (Sr., Nowra, Australia) collected a game-high seven rebounds and scored 19 points. He shot 5-for-8 from the floor and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. He’s now six free throws away from passing former teammate Tim Coenraad (2005-09) on the career free throws list.

The home team controlled the action in the first half as the Sharks only led during the first five minutes of the game. The Mocs slowly built a lead and was up by as much as eight points with three minutes until the break. The Sharks would enter halftime with a five point deficit, the third straight game in which they’ve trailed after 20 minutes.

The Sharks had a below average half in which they turned the ball over nine times and shot 40 percent (10-for-25) from the floor. Florida Southern limited the Sharks’ biggest weapons by holding Gynes, the team’s leading scorer, to two free throw attempts and allowing only three treys. However, they stayed competitive defensively and held the Mocs to 34 percent shooting (11-for-32) on their home floor. Lukas Roesch (So., Sugar Grove, Ohio) had a big first half with 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting in eight minutes.

Brooks sparked NSU’s offense in the second half by scoring 10 of his team’s first 15 second half points. The Sharks retook the lead with 14 minutes remaining and outscored the Mocs, 18-9, over the first seven minutes of the half. Once NSU took the lead, Gynes got into a rhythm by scoring 11 straight points for the Sharks from 13:20 until the 8:05 minute mark. With the Sharks up by three with eight minutes remaining, the Sharks’ offense hit a wall as they were outscored 17-5 over the next six minutes.

The Sharks were down by seven with one minute left and had only made one field goal over the previous seven minutes. Instead of checking out early on the road, Brooks nailed three shots from downtown and Robert Huntington (Jr., Perth Australia) picked up two field goals of his own in the final minute. With six seconds left, the Sharks were one Moc free throw miss away from an opportunity to tie the game. Under pressure, Brandon Jenkins nailed his team’s final free throw to put the Sharks away.

NSU turned its offense around in the second half by shooting 15-for-27 from the floor. Unfortunately they missed seven free throws in the period and committed eight more turnovers.

Roesch finished the game with 12 points and six rebounds while Huntington picked up 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Lemar Dyer (Sr., Miami, Fla.) dished out a team-high five assists and scored six points. He shot 4-for-4 from the free throw line, extending his consecutive free throws made streak to 42. Cody Dennison (So., Newark, Ohio) chipped in six points in his first start of the season while Darien Dyer (So., Miami, Fla.) also making his first career start, chipping in a rebound and an assist in over nine minutes of play.

The Sharks will return to the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center this Saturday, Jan. 29 to play Rollins at 4 p.m.