Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team (9-13, 5-8 SSC) took the No. 6 Barry Buccaneers (20-2, 11-1 SSC) to the brink at home Saturday but lost, 79-71, in overtime.
"It was a great effort by our guys," said head coach Gary Tuell. "We just played one of the best teams in the nation and I thought our guys gave a tremendous effort. I thought we defended really, really well. We did some of the things we had to do to stay in the game, and our defense gave us a chance to win it. I don't think it was Barry's best day, I'm sure they feel that way. But I don't think it was our best day either, I've seen us play a whole lot better than this. At the end of the day, they were a little bit deeper, stronger and better than us. It's a shame that we couldn't pull it out, because I thought we played well enough and executed the right game plan to give ourselves a chance. But we have to live with what happened and move on."
Chris Page (Jr., Plainfield, Ind.) led the Sharks in their near upset, with team highs of 25 points and eight rebounds. He shot 9-for-20 on the day and also recorded an assist and steal.
Stian Berg (Sr., Baerum, Norway) scored 11 points to go with three rebounds and assists each.
Harrison Goodrick (So., Sydney Australia) scored 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting.
Brian Cahill (Sr., Arlington, Va.) finished with seven points, bringing him to 1,004 points over the course of his career. Cahill, who joined the team back in 2009 and has had to sit out two seasons, is now the third highest-scoring player in the team's NCAA era and trails Juno Armstrong (1991-93) by 50 points in the all-time record book.
The top-10 nationally ranked Bucs jumped out to an early lead and stayed ahead for the majority of the first half, but never buried the home team. Barry led by as much as eight points, 15-7, just over seven minutes into the game. An 11-2 run over a five minute period gave NSU its first lead of the game, and from there, NSU would remain either ahead or in striking distance until the end of regulation. In the last seven minutes, neither team led by more than five points, bringing the halftime score to 34-31 Barry.
After a Barry 3-pointer to start the second half, Page drove through the lane to score on a layup, sparking a 12-0 run that flipped the lead. Barry stayed in the contest and tied the game midway through the period at 47 all, but the Sharks went up by six again with a 7-1 run.
NSU maintained a slim lead over Barry but looked to be in control with just over a minute to go, leading 63-56. However, the nationally ranked visiting team stormed back, beginning with a clutch 3-pointer from Arie Williams. NSU turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, allowing Deric Hill to earn a steal and fast break layup.
After one made free throw from Berg, the Bucs worked their way to the free throw line down by three points with 12 seconds left. Juan Ferrales made the first and missed the second, but Barry's Yunio Barrueta drained a put-back layup to tie the game. NSU turned the ball over on the final possession of regulation to send the game into overtime.
The Bucs carried their momentum into the overtime period and quickly piled on points. Page made a 3-pointer on the team's second possession, but the Sharks missed their next four shot attempts. Barry shot 4-for-5 in the final five minutes and eventually led 79-68, their largest lead of the game. Cahill drained a 3-pointer with a couple of seconds left to seal the final score.
The Sharks shot 41.4 percent (24-for-58) overall and 31.4 percent (11-for-35) from 3-point range. However, their defense kept the game close, holding Barry to 39.7 percent (27-for-68) overall and 23.7 percent (9-for-38) from 3-point range.
Justin Jeangerard (Sr., Weaverville, Calif.) finished with nine points, four rebounds and three assists.
Maurice Fuller (Sr., Westfield, Ind.) scored seven points and pulled down five rebounds.
"We've got to rebound as well as we did today," said Tuell. "I thought we really blocked out and competed hard on the glass. I was really proud of our guards. I saw that Stian got three, Mo got five, Brian got three, and
Troy Spears (Fr., Martinsville, Ind.) came off the bench to bring down five rebounds. They really worked hard in there.
"There is a reason why Barry is No. 1 in the league and No. 6 in the nation. There is a reason why they came back from down at Eckerd and why they came back today. They are an outstanding basketball team with a whole lot of talent and they know how to win. We are still struggling to learn how to win. We couldn't finish it today, we'll have to show our guys the film and let them see why we lost. Hopefully they'll learn from this and it won't happen next time."
NSU will look to bounce back on Wednesday against Rollins at 7:30 p.m. in the Sharks' final Sunshine State Conference home game this season.
"Rollins won (over Eckerd, 70-59) today, so they have their first win," Tuell informed. "They are not out of the tournament yet and I'm sure they'll come here on Wednesday ready to go. We've had three really tough games, but we better get our act together and be ready for a war on Wednesday."
