BOX SCORE
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (13-13, 7-9 SSC) concluded the regular season with a win over the Rollins Tars (16-10, 9-7 SSC), 90-79, Saturday at the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center. The win put the Sharks in the sixth seed in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament. NSU will face Saint Leo on the road in the first round on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Teddy Tassy (Sr., Port-au-Prince, Haiti) had a career-best scoring effort on his senior night, dropping in 25 points on 7-for-11 shooting and 4-for-7 from 3-point range. He made eight trips to the free throw line, making seven, and dished out five assists.
Robert Huntington (Sr., Perth, Australia), the team’s second leading scorer, was also honored before the game. Huntington had four rebounds and one steal in the contest.
Tim Traversa (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) had a career-best eight assists along with eight points, three rebounds and three steals.
Iran Hollis (Jr., Hollywood, Fla.) came off the bench to bring down a team-best six rebounds, three on both ends of the floor.
Sean Mullan (Jr., Mangerton, Australia) and
Shaun Pratl (Jr., Chicago Ridge, Fla.) scored 19 and 16 points, respectively. The two forwards each pulled down four boards and combined to shoot 11-for-16 from the floor.
The first half was an exciting back-and-forth struggle between a Rollins’ team that shot lights-out and a NSU team that jumped on Mullan’s back. The Tars shot 62 percent (13-for-21) from the floor in the first half and played well enough to enter the break on top on most nights. However, Mullan kept the Sharks in the game with 17 first-half points, surpassing his career-high, on 4-for-7 shooting from downtown. Mullan’s teammates struggled shooting in the opening half, shooting 36 percent (8-for-22) without him.
Rollins led by six points with 8:46 remaining in the period, but the Sharks took a one-point lead at halftime, outscoring the opposition, 18-11, down the stretch. No other Sharks had more than four points in the first half.
The Sharks’ shooting percentage drifted back towards the mean in the second half as the rest of the Sharks began to heat up. Tassy had one of the best second halves in program history, scoring 23 points. He shot 6-for-7 from the floor and 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Tassy led a strong team effort, as the Sharks shot 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the floor and 63.6 percent (7-for-11) from behind the arc in the second half.
Despite the strong shooting, the Sharks trailed for the majority of the first eight minutes of the second half. The Tars led by five points with 13:27 left on the clock. The Sharks would make their biggest run of the game, outscoring Rollins, 28-7, over the next seven and a half minutes. The Tars brought the score difference to within five points but never climbed back in.
Rollins’ Myk Brown, who scored 27 points, fouled out with 1:43 left in the game and his team down, 81-75. The Sharks would outscore the road team, 10-4, to finish the game.
For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit
www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by
clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by
clicking here.
