FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A late17-2 run down the stretch thwarted Nova Southeastern Friday night as the Sharks dropped their 2016-17 regular season opener 71-65 to St. Thomas (Fla.) at the NSU Arena.
The Sharks led nearly the entire way, but were plagued by 20 turnovers and an untimely 4:30 scoreless drought during crunch time before the Bobcats were able to salt the game away from the free throw line in the final moments.
Forward Gerard "Junior" Tarin carried Nova Southeastern with 22 points and 10 rebounds, both game-highs, in his Shark debut while
Troy Spears added 12 points on 2-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc. However, in a tale of two halves, both were only able to muster a combined four points after intermission.
Tarin ignited Nova Southeastern in the early going with a strong baseline drive for a two-handed flush to give the Sharks a 17-9 cushion with 12:13 to play in the first half. The gap would eventually be cut to just one, but Nova Southeastern's sizzling 56.7% shooting from the field in the opening 20 minutes was too much for the Bobcats to slow down.
With just under two minutes to go before the break,
Harrison Goodrick's mid-range jumper stretched the Sharks' advantage to double-digits for the first time in the contest. Two possessions later, Tarin then slammed home yet another dunk to cap a 7-0 spurt as Nova Southeastern entered the locker room up by a sound 41-29 margin.
The Sharks' offense soon cooled, though, while the Bobcats began to find their rhythm. Limited to 38.7% from the floor in the first half, St. Thomas connected on 58.3% of its attempts in the second half and gradually ate away at Nova Southeastern's lead.
Still in front 54-50, Goodrick nearly brought the house down with a highlight-reel dunk on St. Thomas 6-foot-11 center Raheem Bowman. Yet, the momentum quickly shifted in favor of the Bobcats following a pair of back-breaking treys by Timothy Sada, including the go-ahead bucket with 2:37 remaining.
Sada paced four St. Thomas players in double-figures with 18 points off the bench to go along with point guard Mikon Hewitt's 10-point, seven-assist effort.
NSU won't have much time to hang its head as it dives right into the Sunshine State Conference portion of its schedule next Wednesday at home against Palm Beach Atlantic. For complete coverage of the matchup, follow along on Twitter at @NSU_MBasketball and by clicking on the provided links on the
schedule page.
