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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (11-5, 4-3 SSC) is set to continue its rivalry against the Barry Buccaneers (8-8, 2-5 SSC) Wednesday at the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center at 7:30 p.m. The game will broadcast live on 640 Sports.
A meeting between NSU and Barry in men’s basketball all but guarantees a nail-biting finish. The last seven meetings between the two teams have been decided by two points or less. The last three were decided by a single point. The two teams are connected off the court, as NSU head coach
Gary Tuell is a close friend to Barry head coach Cesar Odio, who is currently away from the team as he battles leukemia.
“The toughest part of playing Barry this year is not having coach Cesar Odio on the sideline,” said Tuell. “He’s a great coach and a wonderful friend and all of us in the SSC miss Cesar and his impact on our league as both a coach and a person. As he continues to battle and overcome his fight with leukemia our thoughts and prayers will be with him. There will be a hundred times in this game when I look down at the Barry bench and think of Cesar and all he means to me as a mentor and a friend. He’s going to win this fight, just the way he’s won so many games over the years, but I sure will miss seeing him and sharing the moment with him.
“We’ve had fun coaching against each other over the years and it won’t be the same without him. On the flip side, Orlando Gonzalez is a terrific young coach who has stepped into a difficult situation and handled it with class and professionalism. I recruited Orlando to play for me several years ago at St. Thomas University and I’m proud of Orlando’s growth as a coach. He has done a very good job in Coach Odio’s absence and will have his team ready on Wednesday night.”
Barry enters the game in seventh place in the SSC standings and two games behind NSU. However, Barry has played all of its conference opponents tough, and even took SSC-favorites Saint Leo into double overtime before losing, 84-79.
“Barry is getting better and better,” stated Tuell. “I think the two teams who will enjoy the biggest turnarounds the second half of the conference schedule will be Barry and Florida Tech. Both of those teams got off to shaky starts in league play, but I can see them growing and developing into very good teams over the next four weeks. I’ll be shocked if they’re not the most improved teams in the league by season’s end. I just hope Barry doesn’t start their run until after Wednesday night’s game.
“They have tremendous perimeter firepower in Justin McCoy, Aaron Martin, Chad Renfro and Bryan Van Cott. Those guys are all capable of dropping 20 on you at any given time. Magne Fivelstad, Filip Toric and Damien Dwaine give them a solid inside game with skills and toughness. This is going to be a very competitive, hard-fought game just like every Nova-Barry battle. It’s like brothers fighting in the back yard. There will be a lot of respect given when the game is over, but I expect a 40-minute fight from both teams and I’ll be disappointed if it’s anything less than that.”
The Sharks are riding another wave of success in conference play, winning three-straight games. The Sharks started the year off 1-3 in the SSC, but all four games were played against the current top-four teams. If the Sharks defeat Barry, it will make the Sharks 4-0 against the bottom half of the league. Their latest win came on the road this past Saturday against Lynn.
“I was pleased with the effort our guys gave in winning at Lynn on Saturday,” said Tuell. “It wasn’t always pretty and we made some mistakes in the second half that we need to clean up, but we will do that. Iran Hollis (Sr., Hollywood, Fla.) made so many aggressive, effort plays for us that made a difference in the game. He had that ‘refuse to lose’ attitude that a senior leader should have. He’s becoming more comfortable in what we’re doing at both ends of the floor and our guys are doing a better job of finding him in the offense.
When Iran’s assertive, he’s a very good player in this league. But we got great contributions from
Lukas Roesch (Sr., Sugar Grove, Ohio),
Brian Cahill (So., Arlington, Va.),
Jacob Reed (Jr., Perth, Australia),
Sean Mullan (Sr., Mangerton, Australia),
Maurice Fuller (So., Westfield, Ind.) and
Justin Jeangerard (So., Weaverville, Calif.), too. It wasn’t
Stian Berg's (So., Baerum, Norway) best effort, but he made some big plays for us, too. Those eight guys play really well together and prove that the sum can be greater than the parts when they’re helping each other and playing together with a purpose. We’re small, but we have a scrappy group of guys who enjoy competing. They’re learning to play hard when shots aren’t dropping. I think that’s the biggest difference in how we’re playing now as opposed to how we played early in the year.”
The Sharks did not have their best shooting night against Lynn, at only 42 percent, but created more opportunities to score with 13 offensive rebounds. They also reached the free throw line 16 times in the second half, 10 more times than Lynn reached the foul line all night. A similar effort will be needed Wednesday if the shots don’t fall.
“We know Barry will be a tough game, but all the games in this league are tough when you’re undersized and outmanned. We’re just trying to stay in games by sharing the ball and busting our tails on the other end of the floor. We’re not hung up on individual results as much as we are on improving as a team and getting better every day. We haven’t made any big jumps or huge strides, but we continue to make progress in small increments. The guys have learned to trust each other and they certainly have been as unselfish as any team I’ve coached. Who knows what the future holds, but with seven of our next eight games at home we have a chance to stay in the hunt. These guys certainly have exceeded my expectations. Hopefully they’ve had enough success that they want to continue doing it.”
Fans can listen to the game live on 640 Sports. The game will also be available via live video
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