Box Score
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (10-12) evened the season series against the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish (8-14) Saturday, winning its home game, 97-88.
"If you like offense then this was a great game to watch," stated head coach
Gary Tuell. "Both teams struggled to stop the other one from scoring. Fortunately we were able to get some great efforts from a lot of guys and pull away late in the game.
Justin Jeangerard (Jr., Weaverville, Calif.) and
Chris Page (So., Plainfield, Ind.) each scored career highs in the contest, with Page scoring 28 and Jeangerard earning 26. Jeangerard shot with near perfection, shooting 10-for-11 and pulling in seven rebounds. Page shot 11-for-16, secured six rebounds and recorded six assists.
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) collected a team-best eight rebounds to pair with his 17 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
"We continue to miss
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.), but Casey Carroll has been exceptional taking up the slack for Brian," said Tuell. "He's been playing like an all conference forward.
Maurice Fuller (Jr., Westfield, Ind.) was upset with the way we played in the first half and came out in the last 20 minutes with a refuse-to-lose look about himself. He was so tough for us.
"
Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) continues to play brilliantly at the point and Chris Page and Justin Jeangerard were almost unstoppable. Especially driving and posting in the paint.
As they did Wednesday, the Sharks flat out outshot the competition in their victory. NSU shot a near-record 65 percent from the floor (35-for-54) and 50 percent from 3-point range (10-for-20). PBA shot above 45 percent from both the field and 3-point range, but could not keep up with the hot-shooting Sharks.
The first half was a close battle for most of the period. NSU led by as much as four points, but never broke away for a substantial lead. Tied at 32-32 with six minutes left, PBA distanced itself from the pack by outscoring NSU, 15-9, over the rest of the first half.
NSU were outrebounded and had 10 turnovers in the first half, but shot well enough to stay in the game. The Sharks went 17-for-25 from the floor in the first half. Jeangerard had 14 points and Page had 11 at the break.
PBA's Clayton Williams sank back-to-back 3-pointers to build his team's first double digit lead. NSU worked its way back into the game with a 16-6 run to bring the score to 59-59 with 13:55 remaining. NSU continued to shoot well in the second half, but took over the game by turning PBA over. After just six first half turnovers, PBA committed 11 in the final period.
"This game didn't count for anything since it was a non-conference game, but it does help eliminate the memories of our loss up at PBA in early January. They have an outstanding team. Nobody we play against does as good job of reversing the ball or changing sides of the floor with the ball like PBA does. They have an outstanding coach and some pretty darn good players.
"I'm very proud of our team. Our young guys are helping us. Our older guys are leading by example. This is a very enjoyable team to coach and it has been from day one.".
NSU led for the majority of the final 13 minutes, but the Sharks closed the door at the 2:35 mark on a 3-pointer from Fuller. The trey put the Sharks up, 91-80, their largest lead of the game until the final minute. NSU scored its final six points at the foul line and held PBA to 2-for-9 shooting down the stretch to secure the win.
Fuller earned a career-best six assists in the game. He scored 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting. Berg scored 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting. He also tallied three steals in the win.
The Sharks will return to Sunshine State Conference play on Wednesday at home against Lynn at 7:30 p.m.
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