Box Score
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (11-14, 7-6 SSC) played another classic game against the Barry Buccaneers (17-6, 7-6 SSC) on the road Wednesday, but fell, 75-72.
Chris Page (So., Plainfield, Ind.) led a spirited comeback and scored 16 points, all in the second half. He shot 5-for-9 in the contest and also tallied three assists and two rebounds.
Justin Jeangerard (Jr., Weaverville, Calif.) scored 15 points and collected a team-best five rebounds.
This was a terrific college basketball game by two teams who played their guts out," said head coach
Gary Tuell. "Barry let us know early how badly they wanted to win. That start was sort of an invitation to our guys to either join the party or go home embarrassed. We joined the party.
"Both teams fought hard and battled with all they had, it was fun to watch. Both teams landed big punches and both refused to go down. Deric Hill did a great job running their team and keeping them steady. In the second half we had several mental mistakes that allowed them to score some easy buckets inside. But we can fix that."
The Sharks started the game cold, missing their first six jump shots. Barry quickly jumped out to a 14-1 lead and eventually led by 15 points just seven minutes into the game. From there, the shooting marks began to even out and the Sharks were able to chop their deficit immensely. NSU would work the score to 30-25 with 1:36 left and trailed by six at the break.
Both teams shot under 40 percent from the floor in the first half, but the difference was made on the glass for Barry. The Bucs outrebounded NSU, 25-16, in the opening half and scored eight second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds.
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) led the Sharks with nine points in the first half. He finished with 11 points on 3-for-8 shooting.
NSU started the second half at the foul line do to a dead ball technical foul. The trip to the line ignited the Sharks, who outscored Barry 16-9 to start the period. Jeangerard hit a 3-pointer with 15:10 left to give his team a 43-42 lead. From there, the game turned into another Nova Southeastern/Barry classic. The two teams traded the lead 13 times over the next 13 minutes, with neither team leading by more than a pair of possessions.
With two minutes left, Barry held a fragile lead at 71-70. A pair of NSU misses allowed the Bucs to take a 3-point lead with a minute remaining. Page and Barry's Barrueta traded driving layups, putting the score at 75-72 Barry with 24 seconds left. NSU had the ball but struggled to run their play against a physical defense, having the ball knocked out of bounds with five seconds left. The Sharks had no choice but to go for a 3-pointer, but could not get a solid look on the out of bounds play. Cahill forced up a contested 3-pointer that took two bounces off the rim before falling wide.
After a hot-shooting second half, both teams finished the game shooting 47 percent. NSU shot 26-for-55 while Barry shot 30-for-63. The Bucs earned eight extra shot attempts by winning the rebounding battle, 40-24. Barry had 14 offensive rebounds to NSU's five.
"They whipped us pretty soundly on the boards," said Tuell. "But we battled in there. Their offensive rebounds hurt us but we face that challenge every game. For the last two weeks we've been playing soft, mediocre basketball. I haven't been pleased at all and it culminated with the loss at Rollins on Saturday.
"Tonight we got back to playing with the effort and passion and toughness that we had earlier in the season. Barry brought that out of us and I'm grateful to them for helping us find ourselves again. If we can maintain this effort and attitude for the last three games and the tournament we will be fine."
The game fit into the narrative between the local rivals over the last six years. 11 of the last 12 contests between the Sharks and Bucs have been decided by four points or less.
Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) ended the game with the team lead in assists with four, adding to his total of seven points and three boards.
Maurice Fuller (Jr., Westfield, Ind.) added 11 points while
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) scored 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting.
"Barry is ranked fourth in the region," pointed out Tuell. "Saint Leo is second. Tampa is eighth. How have we done against those teams this year?
"Congratulations to Barry for winning. They earned it. But we got better tonight. And right on time."
NSU will look to snap its first losing streak since December on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Tampa at home.
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