Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team (9-14, 5-9 SSC) lost its second straight overtime game against the Rollins Tars (9-16, 2-11 SSC), 88-85, at home Wednesday.
Chris Page (Jr., Plainfield, Ind.) and
Harrison Goodrick (So., Sydney, Australia) each scored 19 points and collected four rebounds. Page had four assists while Goodrick recorded three blocks, all in overtime.
Stian Berg (Sr., Baerum, Norway) collected a team-best six boards and dished out a career-high nine assists.
"Hats off to Rollins, they were terrific," said head coach Gary Tuell. "I said earlier that if they ever win a game in this league, watch out. They have a lot of size and talent, they just needed to win one to get themselves going. I thought when they came in here they'd be a tough team to beat and they were. We couldn't find an answer defensively, we couldn't make enough stops. No matter what we did, they kept finding ways to score. But vice versa, we kept finding ways to score on our end too.
"It was one of those games where two teams that shoot it well and play zone run into each other. When that happens, either both teams are going to shoot great and it's going to be a shootout to the end, both teams will shoot lousy and it will be ugly or one team shoots it well and it's a blowout. Tonight, both teams shot really, really well. This was a disappointing loss, a win would have sealed our spot in the tournament. I don't know where we are now in regards to the tournament but I know we have two awfully tough road games at Florida Tech and Saint Leo."
The first half was a 3-point shootout, with both teams shooting 53 percent on a combined 36 3-point attempts. Neither team led by more than six points, nor led for more than nine minutes combined in the half. While his teammates fired away from deep, Goodrick went to work inside early. The junior scored 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting before the second half. NSU shot 13-for-25 overall in the first half and scored 15 points off turnovers.
The Tars started the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers, stretching their lead to 50-41, the largest lead either team would hold Wednesday. However, a barrage of 3-pointers kept the game from escaping the Sharks, who would tie Rollins at 61 apiece with 11:17 remaining.
The two teams stayed within a four point margin of each other through the rest of regulation. Down 77-75 with 1:31 remaining, Page converted on a driving layup to tie the game. The Sharks could not get their next shot to fall, but made stops on two consecutive possessions to send the game to overtime.
Overtime would not be kind to the Sharks, who shot 3-for-10 in the period. Rollins' Sharif Almulla made a layup on the first possession and Alex Blessig followed with a 3-pointer, solidifying a 27-point night. Page returned serve with a trey of his own, bringing to score to 82-80 Rollins. The Sharks missed their next four shot attempts, allowing the Tars to build a six point advantage and seal the game at the free throw line.
Overall, it was an outstanding shooting display by both teams. NSU finished shooting 44.8 percent (30-for-67) and 41.9 percent (18-for-43) from 3-point range. Rollins finished with marks of 50.9 percent (29-for-57) overall and 46.2 percent (18-for-39) from deep. NSU won the rebounding battle, 34-33, and the turnover margin, 9-12.
Justin Jeangerard (Sr., Weaverville, Calif.) and
Maurice Fuller (Sr., Westfield, Ind.) each scored 12 points. Fuller had five rebounds while Jeangerard grabbed three.
Mike Chalas (Jr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and
Brian Cahill (Sr., Arlington, Va.) came off the bench to score six and five points, respectively.
"It's very difficult to pinpoint anything in this game," stated Tuell. "We had our opportunities, we had our guys get good looks in crunch time but just didn't deliver. I think this was the fifth game this year in which we've had the lead in the last two minutes and lost. There could be a lot of reasons for that, but as a coach all you can do is put your guys in a position where they have a chance to win. I think our kids tried hard, we just never seemed to finish it off. We are going to keep trying, plugging away and find an answer."
The Sharks will play their final two Sunshine State Conference games on the road, starting Saturday at Florida Tech at 4 p.m. Senior Day is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the NSU Arena against Palm Beach Atlantic.
