Box Score
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (1-5) earned its first win of the season Friday, defeating the Belmont Abbey Crusaders (3-3), 86-67, at the Barry Thanksgiving Classic.
The Sharks were led by junior
Maurice Fuller (Westfield, Ind.), who collected game-highs with 17 points and five rebounds. He shot 6-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-7 from 3-point range.
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) also collected five rebounds and scored 16 points on 50 percent shooting.
Justin Jeangerard (Jr., Weaverville, Calif.) dished out six assists and scored 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
"We won this one for
Mike Terry (Fr., Ironton, Ohio) (out for personal reasons) and his family," said head coach
Gary Tuell. "It's never ideal to play when one of your players is out, but we hope the win lifts Mike's spirits at least a little bit. We were all thinking about him tonight. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mike. We hope to see him back in uniform soon.
"We got a heck of an an effort from everyone tonight. The guys played their butts off for a full 40 minutes. We made a lot of open threes tonight, but the difference in this game was our defensive pressure. That is a very talented Belmont Abbey team that went to the NCAA tourney last season. But we were able to turn them over 23 times and cashed in on 26 points off turnovers. It's been a long time since an NSU team has been able to win the turnover battle by 11 (23 to just 12 turnovers for NSU). We have a long way to go defensively. We have some ideas and some things we want to add and then work to include in our defensive package. The guys are beginning to understand some of what we need to do if we're going.to win some games. They're buying in, and they're willing to try some unusual things which makes it fun to coach these guys and gives us a positive outlook for the future."
The Sharks and Crusaders played an even ten minutes Friday before NSU would take over. Belmont Abbey led the game, 22-21, with 10:43 left in the first half. From there, NSU would take the lead and never give it back. NSU went on a 12-2 run over the next five minutes. The Sharks displayed their balanced offence, with five different players scoring in succession. NSU would lead by as much as 13 points in the first half, and entered the locker room up, 47-36.
Belmont Abbey scored the opening bucket of the second half to cut its deficit to single digits, but never came closer than nine points of NSU. Jeangerard hit a trey with 10:51 left to give NSU its first 20 point lead at 67-47. Fuller followed up with a 3-pointer of his own to give NSU its largest lead of the game at 73-49. NSU cruised from there, solidifying a 19 point victory.
NSU shot 50 percent over the course of the day, with over half of their shot attempts from beyond the arc. NSU also committed 12 turnovers to Belmont Abbey's 23, and sent the Crusaders to the free throw line just six times. NSU shot 10-for-13 from the foul line and 14-for-31 from 3-point range. The Sharks were three attempts and makes away from the program single-game records.
Sophomore
Chris Page (Plainfield, Ind.) scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half and also collected three assists and two steals.
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) put forth a balanced effort with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) chipped in five assists and three steals.
"That has to be the smallest lineup I have started in 10 years here," stated Tuell. "When you start five guards you're playing with fire, but what a great job our little guys did scrapping for rebounds, getting their hands on loose balls, diving on the floor, tipping passes and getting deflections. We dis a nice job disrupting Belmont Abbey and not letting them run the way they are accustomed to. Give the starters credit. They competed as hard as any team I have ever coached. Some of these guys are growing up before our eyes.
"But as good as the starters were, and they were great, we got a terrific lift from Casey Carroll off the bench. He played four positions, which is amazing in itself, but also gave us 16 points and a presence on the glass while doing a great job in our pressure defense. I was really proud of Casey and
Cameron Denney (Fr., Norwell, Ind.), who both played well off the bench. Mo Fuller and Justin Jeangerard, Chris Page and Stian Berg and Brian Cahill were terrific. They were relentless."
The Sharks will continue their local road trip with a game at NCAA Division I Florida International on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
"We have a long way to go, but we're making progress. We made a huge jump this past week. Let's see if it carries over Tuesday at Florida International."
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