Box Score
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (6-10, 3-2 SSC) won its second straight conference home game Saturday, defeating the Rollins Tars (7-8, 2-4 SSC), 54-46.
"I'm very happy for our young guys," said head coach
Gary Tuell. "I thought we played hard at both ends of the floor. It wasn't pretty. Neither team shot the ball well but I thought both teams were very good defensively. We struggled to penetrate their 1-3-1 and they struggled a little with our presses and neither team could score, which made for an ugly game.
"Our guys are working hard and doing the best they can. We don't have any stars or all conference type players. We aren't impressive or overwhelming. I'm sure when we win teams ask how it could possibly happen. We just do our thing and hope its good enough."
NSU was led offensively by
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.), who scored a team-best 16 points on 5-for-9 shooting. He collected seven boards in the contest, a season high.
Chris Page (So., Plainfield, Ind.) followed suit with 15 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Justin Jeangerard (Jr., Weaverville, Calif.) led the team with a season-best 10 rebounds to go with six points.
Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) had a game-high five assists to pair with his seven points.
"Who do you single out," asked Tuell. "All the guys contributed. And we managed to outrebound a much, much bigger team by a pretty wide margin. That's when you know your kids are focused and came to play. We battled. We scrapped."
The game went back and forth, with each team holding a substantial lead in what would be the lowest scoring game NSU has played in this season. Rollins went up early, 14-8, but did not score a field goal over the final 9:50 before halftime. NSU tied the game on back-to-back treys from Page and Cahill with eight minutes remaining in the period. While Rollins committed six turnovers and missed seven straight shots, NSU slowly built an eight point lead heading into the half at 23-15.
NSU could not take complete advantage of the cold shooting Tars, as the Sharks allowed seven offensive rebounds and committed 12 turnovers before the break. However, when Rollins' doubled its shooting percentage in the second half, NSU kept them to just four offensive boards.
NSU's first half lead did not last long, with the Sharks going on a cold spell of their own. NSU scored two points over the first five minutes of the second half and allowed Rollins to take a 27-25 lead. However, Page led the Sharks on a 12-4 run to retake the lead. He scored or assisted on the first seven points of the run.
Rollins would come within a point of NSU with 9:23 remaining, but NSU shut the Tars down once again. Rollins would score four points over the next eight minutes, allowing NSU to build a 47-40 lead. NSU shot 7-for-9 from the free throw line in the last minute of the game to seal the victory.
In the end, NSU outshot Rollins, 36 percent to 30 percent, and outrebounded the Tars, 41-29. In the second half, NSU kept Rollins off the glass and collected 13 of 17 available defensive rebounds. It was the first time this season in which the Sharks won the game and the rebounding battle.
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) came off the bench to collect six rebounds and score three points, two of which came on a highlight alley oop dunk.
Maurice Fuller (So., Westfield, Ind.) finished with five points, four rebounds and a steal.
"I think our all-guard starting lineup is now 5-2," said Tuell. "That's a credit to our guys and how well they've responded since that 0-5 start. We're improving but we have miles to go and a dozen or more tough tests in front of us."
NSU will begin a week-long road trip Wednesday at Florida Tech in Melbourne, Fla. at 7:30 p.m. The game will broadcast live on 640 Sports.
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