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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (8-12, 5-4 SSC) will look to avenge a January road loss Wednesday, hosting the Eckerd Tritons (12-8, 4-4 SSC) at 7:30 p.m. The game will broadcast live on 640 Sports.

"Points are always hard to come by when you play Eckerd because they are one of the best-coached, toughest defensive teams in our league," said head coach Gary Tuell. "They're always well-prepared and very physical. Their post players are very strong and big and the more physical the game, the better they like it. We don't have the size or physical strength to match up with them inside, but that's every game for us."

Earlier this season, NSU travelled to Eckerd and lost, 75-63. Eckerd had several days to prepare for NSU's style of play and it showed. Eckerd consistently beat the Sharks' press and only committed seven turnovers. NSU was fresh off an overtime win over the NCAA Divison III National Champions, Amherst.

"On the perimeter they have a great senior leader in Alex Bodney, who I think is one of the truly outstanding players in our league because he's a winner," said Tuell. "He plays hard every game and he makes his teammates play hard with him. If you compared him to any guard in Division I you'd have to say he's our league's version of Ohio State's Aaron Craft. You might have better athletes and better scorers than Alex, but there's not a coach in our league who wouldn't want him on the floor for their team.

"Eckerd also has one of the most gifted athletes in the league in Jerrick Stevenson. He's 6-5, 210 (pounds) and looks like an NFL tight end. He scores inside, outside and in transition and he's much improved on the defensive end from a year ago. Eckerd has always had a reputation for having big, physical inside post players, but I think their guard group often gets overlooked. With Bodney and Stevenson, E.J. Moody, Matt Beneduci and Shane Phillips they are deep and talented on the perimeter, guys who are capable shooters you simply can't ignore. They are a very difficult team to zone because they're all dangerous shooters. The return of Josh Snodgrass to the lineup gives them another 6-5 scoring threat both inside and outside. Snodgrass scores a lot of points off drives left and right and he draws fouls. His presence takes a lot of pressure off Ray Darnell and Malcolm Brunner and Brian Cobb inside. He allows those guys to sit down low and carve out space."

Since losing to Eckerd on Jan. 4, the Sharks have gone 5-3 and are undefeated at home. NSU's only Sunshine State Conference losses since then are at Florida Tech and at No. 2 Florida Southern. NSU has worked its way into second place with seven conference games left.

"Eckerd is good and getting better, which is par for the course for Tommy Ryan's teams," stated Tuell. "If we hope to stay in this game we need a supreme effort on the boards and we'll need to play way, way harder than we did in our loss to them up there. You can't beat Eckerd teams if you're not mentally and physically tougher than them. Those two areas -- mental and physical toughness – are the areas where we need to improve by leaps and bounds if we're going to hold onto second place down the stretch in this league. It has to begin with at the defensive end, with tough closeouts, contesting shots, sprinting and not jogging in transition, and finishing possessions by going after the ball. If we do those things we will be hard to beat. If we don't do those things, we'll slide down the league ladder in a hurry.

"We've been up and down lately, some nights playing very hard and some nights not so hard. I'm very proud of these guys for being in second place in the league with seven conference games to play. It's remarkable when you consider our lack of size and lack of depth. But the last seven games in the league are going to be very tough. People will be physical with us and do their best to push us around, knock us off our cuts and shove the ball down our throats. Every game will be a 12-round fight and we better be tough enough to answer the bell or we'll get knocked out of the conference race by teams that either don't respect us or don't believe we're good enough to finish the race."

In a perfect scenario, the Sharks would use their five guard lineup to wear down the Tritons over the course of the game, a strategy that has led to blowouts of Tampa and Saint Leo. Unfortunately, the wear and tear of the long season has affected the team's strategy.

"The challenge for us is much tougher without Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.), who we've decided to rest until his back pain diminishes and he's completely healthy," admitted Tuell. "He's been through two back surgeries and he's played with a very bad bone bruise in his ankle. We've reached the point where it isn't fair asking him to keep going. I don't know if he will be back in a week or two weeks or even if he will be able to come back at all this season. Only time will tell. I just know we need to rest him and give him a chance to heal.

"So we're tackling the crunch time in our schedule with five guys: Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway), Justin Jeangerard (Jr., Weaverville, Calif.), Maurice Fuller (So., Westfield, Ind.), Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) and Chris Page (So., Plainfield, Ind.). Those five guys have to be like fingers that form a fist. Together they have to be a team that rises up and resists. Hopefully we can get a few productive minutes from one or two of our freshmen. But our future right now is in the five fingers and their ability to pull together, form a fist that resists all challenges. Brian is our MVP. We run our offense through him and he directs our defense from the back of our press. He's the one guy we can ill afford to lose for so many reasons. We have a tough road ahead without Brian, but that's fine with me. It gives our guys a chance to show us that they have the kind of toughness required to take the punches and continue answering the bell."

Tune into 640 Sports 15 minutes before the game for the pregame show. Fans can watch the game live HERE and follow live stats HERE.

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