Box Score
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (0-5) dropped an overtime road contest against NAIA's 14th-ranked team, the St. Thomas Bobcats (3-0), Thursday, 91-87.
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) scored a career-high 21 points to go with four rebounds and three assists.
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) grabbed a team-best nine boards, four of which were on offense.
Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) had a team-high four assists and scored six points.
The game started out as a seesaw battle over the first 13 minutes. St. Thomas held their largest lead of the period at 25-22 with 8:31 left to in the half. NSU would go on a 16-3 run from there, started by a 3-pointer from
Chris Page (So., Plainfield Ind.). A barrage of treys followed and the Sharks led, 38-27, with 5:37 remaining in the first half.
NSU had the home team down, but five turnovers over the last five minutes allowed the Bobcats to come back in the game. St. Thomas nearly tied the game with just over two minutes left, but the Sharks were able to hold them off before the break, entering the locker room with a 43-40 lead.
NSU shot 50 percent in the first half, but were handicapped by 10 turnovers. Cahill led all Sharks at halftime with 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting. Carroll had eight boards and seven points at the break.
NSU never trailed in the second half and led for the first 19 minutes of the period. However, St. Thomas' Demetris Allen kept the Sharks from leading by more than 11 in the game. He had 20 points at halftime and brought his total to 35 by the end of the game. The Bobcats put themselves within one point of NSU with 4:41 remaining, but
Justin Jeangerard (Jr., Weaverille, Calif.) drained a 3-point bucket to just keep St. Thomas at arm's length.
St. Thomas would remain within a bucket of NSU for the remainder of the period. With the Sharks leading 79-77 in the final minute of regulation, NSU gave up three crucial offensive rebounds and allowed St. Thomas to tie the game with 20 seconds left. A turnover on the final possession of regulation sent the game into overtime.
St. Thomas took their first lead since midway through the first half with 3:03 left to play. Chuckie Beckton nailed a layup after contact and knocked down a free throw to give his team a three-point lead. With a minute left, Lorel Beckford gave his team its largest lead of the game at 89-84. Cahill knocked down a corner 3-pointer to keep his team alive, but St. Thomas sealed the game at the foul line on the other end.
Page and Jeangerard scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, on a combined 6-for-13 shooting.
Mike Terry (Fr., Ironton, Ohio) started and scored nine points.
The Sharks will take a week off before facing Belmont Abbey in a neutral site game on Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. in Miami Shores, Fla.
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