FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Although classes may be officially out for the holiday break, the Nova Southeastern men's basketball team will be quite busy with a trio of matchups ahead. Beginning Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Sharks will play host to Indianapolis before returning to the Florida Tech Winter Classic for the second consecutive year on Sunday to square off against Point and Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras.
The Sharks have struggled to get over the hump lately, dropping their previous four contests, but figure to have taken plenty of positives from their most recent defeat to No. 5 West Liberty this past Tuesday. Despite 14 first-half turnovers, Nova Southeastern was able recover from a double-digit deficit to pull within two of the Hilltoppers midway through the second half before running out of gas late. In the process, the Sharks held West Liberty 13 points below its season scoring average and allowed the Hilltoppers to earn just six total attempts from the charity stripe.
Gerard Tarin bounced back from a two-point effort against Lynn last Saturday to register 19 points and nine rebounds. In addition,
Troy Spears connected on three three-point field goals to finish with 17 points in the defeat. With that sort of play joined by the consistent efforts from
Harrison Goodrick, the Sharks can only expect to be on the verge of shaking their current losing skid with plenty of basketball still left to play this season.
Indianapolis is searching for its sixth consecutive 20-win season, yet similar to the Sharks, enters Friday's matchup having already experienced its fair share of ups and downs after checking in at No. 17 in the Division II Bulletin Preseason Top-25 to begin the year. The Greyhounds had previously lost four of their last five games, but responded with an 85-62 victory their last time out on December 10 against Olivet Nazarene to climb back to 3-5 overall.
Forward Jesse Kempson leads a balanced scoring attack of four players averaging double-figures with 16.0 points per game to go along with a team-high 6.4 rebounds.
Looking to rebound from a pair of losses in last year's tournament, Nova Southeastern will kick off this year's winter classic against a struggling Point team in its opener. The Skyhawks have dropped 10 of their first 12 games this season, eight of those coming by double-digits. Guard Dedrick Turner boasts a team-high 15.1 points thus far in his 10 games played, but Point shoots just 39.3 percent from the field as a collective group.
Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, meanwhile, saw its record fall to 2-3 following an 89-82 setback at Flagler on Wedesday. However, the Gallitos have already picked up a pair of NCAA Division II wins after previously beating Concordia St. Paul and Sioux Falls.
Esteban Cordero paces Rio Piedras with 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds, while Omar Font and Krystian Medina have chipped in with 12.8 and 9.8 points per game, respectively.
For complete coverage of this weekend's action, visit
NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball.
