TAMPA, Fla. – Nova Southeastern was in an identical situation a year ago, trailing Sunshine State Conference foe Tampa by 22 points on the road before capping a miraculous comeback victory. This time around, however, a win wasn't in the cards for the Sharks as the Spartans' three-point shooting thwarted Nova Southeastern Saturday evening.
Led by forward Marcel Robinson's game-high 26 points, Tampa used 15 treys to race past the Sharks 98-78. The loss marks the first at the Martinez Center for Nova Southeastern since back in 2011 and drops the Sharks to 1-2 overall, 1-1 in league play.
Senior Harrison Goodrick recorded 18 points in the defeat, while point guard BJ Edwards poured in a career-high 16 points. Yet, a sluggish effort from the opening tip cost Nova Southeastern as the Sharks fell behind by 20 points less than nine minutes into the contest.
"Today's effort was not indicative of what our guys are capable of," said Sharks' assistant coach Marquise Kiffin. "We have to learn to travel. This was our first real road game, and you can't dig yourself holes and expect to come back. We've been lucky enough in this gym to do that before, but tonight wasn't that night."
Tampa stormed out to an 8-0 cushion and soon saw its lead balloon to 31-13 after draining eight triples prior to the midway point of the first half. That margin later stretched to 47-25 following one of Robinson's six three-point field goals, but a Goodrick put-back with 36 seconds to go in the opening half kept Nova Southeastern within striking distance down 13 at the break.
Two of Dwayne Gibson's nine points on the night narrowed the gap to 53-43 at the 18:12 mark of the second half. Another Robinson bucket would halt the momentum, though, as the Sharks didn't get any closer the rest of the way.
After averaging just 3.9 points in 27 games played a year ago, Edwards has shown much improvement in the early portion of the season by posting 13.3 points per night through the first three contests.
"We've really pressured him to be more aggressive offensively, and the last two games he's responded," added Kiffin. "He's been attacking the rim and has taken on a leadership role. He understands that we need him to be a threat out there for us to be good. He's answered the call."
NSU will have a full week off before returning to action next Saturday in an exhibition against St. Thomas (Fla.). For complete coverage of the Sharks throughout the season, log onto NSUSharks.com or follow @NSU_MBasketball on twitter.
