Box Score BOX SCORE
TAMPA, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (9-5, 2-3 SSC) put forth one of their best defensive performances in team history Saturday, as the Sharks defeated the Tampa Spartans (13-4, 1-4 SSC), 68-51, on the road.
Brian Cahill (So., Arlington, Va.) led all scorers with 19 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor. He also shot 3-for-4 from 3-point range and a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line.
Lukas Roesch (Sr., Sugar Grove, Ohio) started the pace for NSU, scoring all 17 of his points in the first half.
Iran Hollis (Sr., Hollywood, Fla.) led the Sharks with six rebounds while
Stian Berg (So., Baerum, Norway) tied a career-high five assists.
“I think our matchup zone confused them early,” said head coach
Gary Tuell. “I thought we kept them off-balance in the first half, but I don’t think we played particularly well offensively. I was really proud and pleased with the way we played in the second half, and they maintained their intensity defensively.”
NSU tied the program record for points allowed in a Sunshine State Conference road game at 51 points. However, it set the mark for lowest points allowed in a SSC in a road win.
The Sharks won the first half, 31-23, but blew Tampa away in the second half and led by 36 points with under nine minutes to go. In that first half, Roesch and Cahill paced the Sharks by scoring 11 of the team’s 12 field goals. The duo combined to shoot 11-for-16 and outscored Tampa by two points on their own.
The Sharks held Tampa to 33 percent shooting in the first half, but things only got worse for the home team. NSU opened up the second half on a 29-2 run that all but put the game in the books. The Sharks peaked with 8:43 remaining in the game by leading, 63-27. Tampa made a run late in the game to make the score more respectable, outscoring NSU, 15-2, over the final five minutes.
NSU held Tampa to 31 percent shooting in the second half, and blew them away by shooting 7-for-10 from downtown. Cahill scored 11 points in the period and only needed four shot attempts to get there.
Justin Jeangerard (So., Weaverville, Calif.) scored all nine of his points by shooting 3-for-3 in the second half.
Jacob Reed (Jr., Perth, Australia) scored nine points in the game on two treys and a trio of free throws.
NSU will return home on Wednesday to host the Florida Tech Panthers at 7:30 p.m. in the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center. The game will also 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.
