BOX SCORE

MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (9-12, 4-8 SSC) dropped a nail biter in Melbourne, Fla. Wednesday as the Sharks lost to the Florida Tech Panthers (16-5, 8-4 SSC), 64-61.

On a night that he passed former teammate Lemar Dyer in games played (103), Teddy Tassy (Sr., Port-au-Prince, Haiti) led the Sharks with a team-high 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting. He shot 4-for-8 from 3-point range and recorded four rebounds and three assists. Shaun Pratl (Jr., Chicago Ridge, Ill.) collected team-high’s with 11 rebounds and three assists.

The Panthers set the stage for what they would bring to the court early as they knocked down three treys to start the game on a 13-5 run. The Sharks answered back immediately and tied the game at 18 a piece with 10 minutes remaining. From then on out, neither team would have more than a seven-point lead in the game. The Sharks closed out the second half strong and entered the break ahead, 34-31. Lukas Roesch (Jr., Sugar Grove, Ohio) came off the bench to score eight points on 4-for-5 shooting in the first half.

The second half was a back-and-forth struggle that went down to the last possession of the game. The Sharks controlled the lead for the majority of the first 15 minutes of the half, claiming their biggest lead at 53-46 with 7:17 left on the clock. The Panthers swung the game around by going on a 15-0 run with four-straight made 3-pointers. The run was capped off by a 3-pointer off the backboard by Florida Tech’s Anthony Jackson with Pratl right in his face.

Despite the discouraging bucket, the Sharks swung right back, tying the game at 61 a piece with less than a minute remaining. With 31 seconds left, Florida Tech’s Julius Reid made running floater to put his team up by two points. Coming out of a timeout, the Sharks had a chance to send the game to overtime or win it with a 3-pointer, but could not convert. After a missed free throw by the Panthers, the Sharks had eight seconds to tie the three-point contest but could not extend the game.

The Sharks stayed in the game despite an incredible 3-point shooting night by Florida Tech. The home team drained 13 treys on 50 percent shooting from downtown, while the Sharks shot 42 percent from the floor and 35 percent from downtown.

Iran Hollis (Jr., Hollywood, Fla.) had a solid game with 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting and brought down seven boards. Robert Huntington (Sr., Perth, Australia) contributed nine points, eight rebounds and two assists.

The Sharks will return home this Saturday, Feb. 11 to face Tampa at 4 p.m. The game is scheduled to start right after NSU’s Community Fest and will broadcast live on 640 Sports.

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.