FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team completed the doubleheader sweep of local adversary Palm Beach Atlantic, coming away with a healthy margin of victory, 98-79 in Wednesday's nightcap at the NSU Arena.
 
The Sharks (3-3) evened up their season mark by utilizing a stingy first-half defense in what was at that point a close early game. They held the Sailfish (3-4) without a field goal for 8:20 of gametime in the first half, and though PBA was able to put in some free throws during that time, it was a 21-8 Shark run, and at the half, a 15-point Shark lead, 44-29.
 
At the break, Chris Page (Sr., Plainfield, Ind.) was just two points below his season scoring average, putting in 19 on 7-of-10 shooting at that point, and he would pace the Sharks for the fourth time in sixth games, matching his career high of 30. He ended the night shooting 11-of-18 and making 6-of-11 3-pointers, that a new career best. Likewise, BJ Edwards (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) had already notched his new point standard at the break with a cool dozen, and he would end up with 14 on the night.

"I had no idea what to expect from our guys coming into this game," said head coach Gary Tuell. "I knew we were playing without Nick Pendergast (Sr., Bridgewater, Conn.) and Casey Carroll (R-Jr., Youngstown, Ohio), and I knew some guys were still feeling a little sick after our nightmare trip to West Texas. I know none of us has fully recovered from that ordeal. On top of that both of my assistant coaches were sick, with Jordan Fee battling the same bug the rest of our players and coaches have or have had, and Marquise Kiffin is dealing with two kidney stones. So I really didn't know what we do tonight. But the guys were terrific, they played with such great energy and effort, especially in the first half and during the middle portion of the second half. Win or lose, I couldn't be more proud of them for the way they attacked this game. Palm Beach Atlantic is a very good young team and extremely well-coached. But I thought we did a great job keeping them off-balance most of the night. We chased shooters off the 3-point line and for the most part our guys did a nice job of closing up the gaps and keeping them from getting into the lane off the dribble. They were so much bigger and more athletic than us, but our little guys battled in the paint and Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) did a great job anchoring our defense."
 
PBA, and more specifically, Bakari Warthen, started the second half hot, with the freshman Sailfish guard scoring the first six of a frame-opening 8-0 run. The NSU lead was cut down to seven at that point, 44-37, but a 17-4 run by the home team widened the gap even further. Troy Spears (So., Martinsville, Ind.) had eight points during the spurt, and was the third Shark in double digits with 14, while also tallying a team-high and new career high of five assists against just one turnover. He was joined later by another Shark scoring 10 or more in Goodrick. Like Edwards and Spears, the 6-8 center would also score 14, while pulling down a team-best six rebounds.
                      
All told, the Sharks shot 52.5 percent from the field, and were almost even better from long range at an even 50 percent (15-of-30). Besides Page's six from behind the arc, Mike Chalas (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) canned three for all nine of his points, with Edwards and Spears adding two each.

"A lot of guys really stepped up in the absence of Nick and Casey," said Tuell. "Chris Page had it going at both ends of the floor. He made big shots for us, and he made a lot of great defensive plays for us. BJ Edwards played his best game at both ends of the floor and Mike Chalas is coming out of his shell offensively and starting to gain confidence. Mike has been so good defensively that we can't leave him out of the lineup. He brings so much energy and toughness to our team.  But he's also a terrific shooter and you got a glimpse of that tonight. Troy Spears turned in his usual blue-collar effort. He has such a great work ethic. Dwayne Gibson, Jr. (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Nikita Orap (Moscow, Russia) didn't play like freshmen; they were really solid at both ends of the floor. And Pat Huffine (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.) got a little taste of things tonight and did some nice things."

Warthen led the Sailfish with 26 points, making 9-of-17 shots from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. He scored 17 of his points after intermission.
 
The Sharks will next face off against undefeated Rollins, 8-0 overall after a Wednesday win against Embry-Riddle. Game time on Friday at the NSU Arena is 5:30 p.m.

"It hurts us to play without Nick and Casey because we're at a point in the season where we need to establish an eight, nine or 10-man rotation and give these guys an opportunity to develop a rhythm and a cohesiveness," said Tuell. "We couldn't get to that in Texas and we couldn't get that tonight, but the guys who played all gave us a tremendous effort. In the first 20 minutes we were locked in and switched on. Once we opened that lead up in the second half we relaxed and stopped doing some of the things we did early in the game, but that's human nature. And we played four freshmen the final five minutes and their defensive intensity wasn't what we need to win in this league, but they'll learn. It was a great win for our team. It says a lot about the character of this group that they could come off such an exhausting and disappointing trip, practice one day and come out with the kind of effort they gave tonight. And to do it without two of their better teammates, that just speaks to the depth of our bench and the confidence of our young players. It was a special effort by our guys. I'm happy for them because they needed this."