FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to upend Lynn on Wednesday night in the Sunshine State conference opener for both teams, 88-84 at the NSU Arena.
 
The Sharks (2-0, 1-0 SSC) led for a total of a minute of game time early on in the first half, at 2-0 and 5-3. In and around the midway point, Lynn (1-1, 0-1 SSC) opened up what was a close game with a 14-5 run, moving the lead from five points at 12:52 to 14 at 33-19 with 8:57 to go in the half.
 
The Lynn lead was at 12 at the 8:33 mark, but the Sharks shot their way back, with consecutive 3-pointers by Casey Carroll (R-Jr., Youngstown, Ohio) and Mike Chalas (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.), halving the deficit. In the waning moments of the half, they cut it to one on a Nick Pendergast (Sr., Bridgewater, Conn.), and only were down two at the horn, 47-45.
 
Still, Lynn continued to lead through the first six minutes-plus of the second half, before Pendergast finally pushed them ahead with a 3-pointer from the right corner at 11:54. In fact, that shot spurred a 14-4 run, with the Sharks leading 76-66 with 7:48 remaining.
 
It stayed at least a two-possession game from then until Lynn had a mini-run late. Down 84-78 at 4:14, the Fighting Knights scored six of the next eight points and trailed by only two, 86-84 with 1:28 to go. The Sharks missed their next shot, and the teams traded turnovers. Lynn had a shot to tie it with 35 seconds remaining, but it wouldn't fall, and Chris Page (Sr., Plainfield, Indiana) hit a running bankshot with 6.5 ticks left to seal the win.

"I've said many times that winning and losing games in November and December is not nearly as important as giving young players an opportunity to learn and develop," said head coach Gary Tuell. "But it's always fun when you can give guys a good learning experience AND you can pick up a win."
 
Nine Sharks scored, all of them totaling five points or more, led by Page and Carroll with 17 each. Page made all six of his free throws while Carroll was 7-of-8, and also added eight rebounds. Pendergast and Troy Spears (So., Martinsville, Ind.) both added 10, while Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) scored nine and had a team-best 12 rebounds.

"We had so many heroes out there, but most importantly we were able to play 14 people – our entire available roster right now – for the second straight game, and those guys rewarded us," said Tuell. "We got 40 points and 17 rebounds from our bench. But that doesn't come close to measuring what they gave us in heart, effort, hustle and determination. Every guy who stepped on the court gave his all for his teammates. That's how we have to play every night if we hope to do something significant later in the year. And when the game was on the line at the end, our All-American candidate (Chris Page) put his teammates on his shoulders and made the biggest shot of the night. Everybody in the gym knew he was taking the last shot. What a big-time moment for Chris and our program."

Chalas and Nikita Orap (Fr., Moscow, Russia) were next with seven points each, Dwayne Gibson, Jr. (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.) added six, and BJ Edwards (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) had five points and five assists. Chalas and Edwards each had three steals; Goodrick had three blocked shots; and though it didn't show up on the stat sheet, providing energy and hustle off the bench was point guard Jonathan Back (Jr., Carlisle, Ohio).

"There were so many positives for us tonight," said Tuell. "The young guys – Dwayne Gibson, Nikita Orap, Austin Marciniak – played so hard and gave us a great lift. Jon Back came off the bench and sparked us, energized us and did a terrific job. Nick Pendergast got in foul trouble in the first half but really gave us a lift in the second half. I loved the effort and energy BJ Edwards and Mike Chalas gave us, but heck, you can name everybody on the roster because everyone contributed. It was good to see Casey Carroll contributing and providing leadership again, we sure missed his presence on the floor a year ago. He's such a valuable member of this team and such a great leader for our guys."
 
Ben Berry had a double-double for Lynn with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Jamal Palmer also scored 17. Fred Landers was next with 15, while Denzel Washington added 14 for the visitors.

"This is a very talented Lynn team," added Tuell. "David Johnson, Russell Wilson, Ben Berry, Fred Landers and Dante Scholl are very good players who led Lynn to the Sweet 16 last year. And the guys they've added to the mix are very good. Maybe we caught them looking ahead or maybe they just didn't respect us enough, who knows? It's early in the year; Lynn is going to be terrific. We're all struggling right now to figure out lineups and what works for us on the offensive and defensive end. Teams are trying to figure it out, players are trying to figure out their roles. Coaches are trying to figure out what works and what doesn't and dealing with chemistry. You can't read too much into results right now, but having said that, the one thing you can't deny is that our guys fought hard, played with great effort and competed as hard as they possibly could. That's all you can ask from guys. Both teams will benefit from this game. We will both go back and look at our mistakes and look at the things that could have been done better, that's what early season games are all about. But it sure is nice to get a win against a quality opponent. We'll enjoy this for a night and go back to work tomorrow and try to help our guys get better."
 
The Sharks play their third game in six days on Saturday, traveling well up the road to face Saint Leo at 4 p.m., on the tail end of the women's and men's twinbill. They won't return home until Dec. 2, but Tuell looks forward to having the same support that night as they did on Wednesday.

"The crowd was terrific," he said. "Our student body did a great job being vocal and energizing our players. They gave us as much of a lift as our bench gave us.  Hopefully they enjoyed the effort our guys made for them and they'll come back and support us in games in the future. They made a difference."