640 SPORTS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (11-6, 4-4 SSC) will play its second half of the Sunshine State Conference schedule, starting Saturday at home against the Saint Leo Lions at 4 p.m. The game will broadcast live on 640 Sports.
The Sharks are looking to rebound after snapping a three-game winning streak at the hands of Barry, 68-61.
“The bad news from Wednesday night is that we dropped a home game to Barry, and in the process, we lost
Justin Jeangerard (So., Weaverville, Calif.),”said head coach Gary Tuell. “The good news is that despite being sliced up like a New York deli ham, with gashes on the forehead, behind the ear and inside his mouth,
Brian Cahill (So., Arlington, Va.) somehow avoided a concussion and will be ready to go Saturday against Saint Leo.
“I thought we were scheduled to play a basketball game Wednesday night, but shortly after the tipoff a UFC cage fight broke out,” said Tuell. “The NCAA keeps telling us they want ‘freedom of movement’ for the offensive team. Maybe that memo isn’t getting to everyone. Instead of a free-flowing offensive game, Barry turned it into something resembling rush hour on I-95. It was a bumper-to-bumper grind from start to finish, with a few head-on collisions and fender benders mixed in. I’m just proud that our guys kept their composure and played through the congestion. When we were finally able to open up a little bit of a lead (50-45), Aaron Martin sank a big three and we fouled him to turn it into a four-point play. That play, along with a great Barry student crowd behind their bench, gave them a huge lift and took a lot of life out of our team. I thought both teams played hard and did some good things, but give Barry credit. They were able to influence the flow of the game with their defensive techniques and we didn’t handle it very well. It was a good learning experience for our coaches and players.”
The Sharks have little time to look back on their recent loss, as the preseason SSC-favorites are now in front of them. Saint Leo has only gained momentum from the early hype and currently sit second in the conference standings and a game out of first place. They are coming off two straight wins, including a 25-point drubbing of Rollins.
“Saint Leo is having another great year, which is no surprise since they were the preseason choice to win the conference title,” stated Tuell. “Their defense is as stingy as ever and they have the same players, plus Jerrel Harris, who took the conference by surprise last year. A year ago I thought Marcus Ruh was the MVP of our league, and he’s only gotten better. His impact on his team and his influence on games is unmatched. Harris is terrific at penetrating and scoring from all over the court and when Trent Thomas is shooting it well, there’s nobody better from the three-point line than him.
“But the unsung hero on that team is Shaun Adams. If I could draft a team from players in our league Ruh would be my first pick. And while everybody else gobbled up scorers and rebounders and guys with more gaudy numbers, I’d sit back and wait for my second pick and take Adams in a heartbeat. He is the glue guy who holds it all together and makes it all work for them. A great defender, rebounder, passer and he can score when they need him. He would make any team better. He’s just a terrific all around basketball player.”
Earlier this year, Saint Leo defeated the Sharks at their gym, 72-55. NSU was led by
Lukas Roesch (Sr., Sugar Grove, Ohio), who came off the bench to score 13 points. He shot 5-for-6 from the floor, including a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
Iran Hollis (Sr., Hollywood, Fla.) had a then season-best 11 rebounds and secured the double-double with 10 points.
Jacob Reed (Jr., Perth, Australia) led the Sharks in assists with four, a career-high.
“Without Justin, we’ll be short-handed and you hate to play anyone without one of your starters,” said Tuell. “But you really hate playing a team like Saint Leo without one of your best weapons. It’s hard enough beating them when you have all your best players available. It becomes much more problematic when you play them short-handed. But we’ll compete and see if we can find some ways to make some shots and limit their guards from all having good nights at the same time. They handled us pretty easily back at their place in early December. Hopefully we’ve improved enough since then that we can narrow the gap and make it more interesting this time.”
Fans can listen to the game live on 640 Sports. The game will also be available via live video
HERE live stats
HERE. Follow the Sharks on Twitter at
www.Twitter.com/NSUSharks.
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.
