ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team was back-and-forth with league-leading and No. 12 Eckerd, until a run that ended near the midway point of the second half allowed the Tritons to pull away and win 70-60 on Wednesday night.
 
The Sharks (5-7, 1-3 SSC) and Tritons (13-1, 5-0 SSC) went through 10 lead changes, three coming early in the second half, with NSU last ahead 38-37 with 18:37 left. It was still just a one-point game at 41-40, in favor of Eckerd, at 16:45, but they then went on an 11-2 run to move ahead by double digits (52-42, 11:40).
 
The closest the Sharks would get was seven, 61-54, after a Casey Carroll (R-Jr., Youngstown, Ohio) driving bucket at the 4:24 mark. After struggling all half with free throws (in total going 10-for-27 in those 20 minutes), Eckerd made enough of them at the end to provide the final margin.
 
"It wasn't pretty, but I thought both teams played about as hard as they could," said head coach Gary Tuell. "I was proud of our effort, with the exception of a brief stretch early in the second half. Eckerd is clearly a great defensive team, and because of their size and physical prowess, they are a tough matchup for us. I thought we did a pretty good job of defending the paint, and I thought we did a pretty good job of defending the '3'. They are the best rebounding team in the league, but I thought we held our own for the most part."
 
Chris Page (Sr., Plainfield, Ind.) was the Sharks' high scorer Wednesday with 22, but the Eckerd defense tightened up and held him without a field goal after halftime. He did make 7-of-8 from the free throw line in that timeframe, and was 9-of-10 overall. Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) nearly had a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds
 
"Chris Page and Harrison Goodrick did a great job for us in the first half, keeping us in the game," said Tuell. "If we didn't have those two guys, I'm not sure we would have scored. But because of the plays they made, we were tied at the half, and I felt like if we got the same effort defensively in the second half, we'd have a chance to win it. We had a lull in the second half, I'm not sure whether it was fatigue or a lack of focus, but that caused us to really struggle for a bit.
 
"We got a great lift from Pat Huffine (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.), Austin Marciniak (Fr., Uniontown, Ohio), BJ Edwards (So., Fort Myers, Fla.), Casey Carroll and Mike Chalas (Sr. Pembroke Pines, Fla.) off the bench. All those guys came in and gave us a spark at different times, helping us to stay close. The three freshmen that played really played well, competed, and didn't back down. They played with a lot of confidence."
 
Carroll was next for the Sharks in both the scoring (six) and rebounding (five) categories, while Dwayne Gibson, Jr. (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.) was often the team's point guard on Wednesday, committing just two turnovers in 28 minutes and scoring five points while adding four rebounds. Troy Spears (So., Martinsville, Ind.) had the same exact stat line in two less minutes.
 
Next up for NSU is a matchup next Wednesday night, also on the road, against Barry. The Sharks and Bucs will tip off in Miami Shores at 7:30 p.m.
 
"We'll learn a lot of things from this game, especially if our guys want to get better," said Tuell. "There are a lot of positives we can take from this. When I look at the scores from around the league tonight, it's hard to find two teams other than Eckerd and ourselves who are really playing well defensively right now. I know there are other teams that are capable, but I really feel like the two teams that played tonight are the two best defensively. Hopefully we'll gain some confidence and get ready for Barry."