MELBOURNE, Fla. – Using its run-and-gun style of offense to its advantage, Florida Tech poured in 14 three-point field goals en route to a 98-90 victory over Nova Southeastern Saturday evening.
Harrison Goodrick recorded a season-high 29 points just three days after tallying 28 against Barry. However, the Sharks had trouble earning stops throughout as they now find themselves at 2-4 overall, and 1-3 in the Sunshine State Conference,"
"You can't get too high for Barry and then flatten out for Florida Tech," said Nova Southeastern head coach Gary Tuell following the loss. "Those guys present a whole different number of problems."
Attributing to those problems was the Florida Tech backcourt duo of Jordan Majors and Patrick Anderson. Together, both combined for 46 points and 14 assists, and consistently drilled timely buckets just when Nova Southeastern appeared primed to make some sort of run.
The offenses for each side exploded out the gate, and just over four minutes into the contest Goodrick slammed home an alley-oop from BJ Edwards to cut the Sharks' early deficit to 12-11.
Nova Southeastern built its largest lead of the night at 23-18 following an old-fashioned, three-point play by Edwards midway through the opening half. The Panthers would respond, though, with an 8-0 spurt capped by an Anderson dunk to wrestle back the momentum.
Florida Tech's cushion soon ballooned to double-digits following a barrage of three's until a Troy Spears fastbreak lay-up in the waning seconds closed the gap to 58-51 heading into intermission.
After limiting Barry to 23.3 percent from the floor in the first half of Wednesday's matchup, Nova Southeastern allowed the Panthers to shoot 63.9 percent in the first 20 minutes Saturday.
Still, despite Florida Tech's success, the Sharks managed to find themselves down just five following four quick points from Gerard Tarin in the early portion of the second half. After failing to convert a three-point play, Tarin grabbed his own missed free throw and put it back in to draw the Sharks to within 60-55 at the 18:20 mark.
The deficit dwindled further to three, but eight consecutive points by Florida Tech opened the ball game back up before the Panthers grabbed their largest lead at 79-63 with 12:19 remaining.
Tarin finished his third double-double in five starts this season with a 16-point, 10-rebound effort. Meanwhile, Spears notched a season-high 19 points on 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. Yet, the rest of the NSU squad converted just 3 of its 11 three-point attempts in the defeat.
The Sharks will look to snap their two-game losing streak when they welcome Lynn to the NSU Arena next Saturday, December 10. For complete coverage, log onto NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball.
