FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team was outgunned by Tampa Wednesday night, falling at home to the Spartans, 86-71.
The Sharks (9-13, 4-9 SSC) shot nearly 60 percent in the first half but fell prey to nine made 3-pointers by the Spartans (8-14, 4-8 SSC) to go into the break down eight. Two quick baskets by
Chris Page (Sr., Plainfield, Ind.) made it a four-point game, 44-40, but UT went on a 21-8 run and, unlike the previous game, did not have to stave off a Shark comeback attempt.
NSU dominated the paint, more than doubling the visitors, 42-20. But 13 3-pointers, including 10 combined by Pat Bacon and Marcel Robinson, more than made up that difference. Bacon had 24, as did Duke Shelton, to go along with 10 rebounds.
"I've said for the last few days, after watching film of Tampa, that they're the most improved team in our league and definitely playing about as well as anyone I've seen all year," said head coach
Gary Tuell. "They do a great job in their man defense and their players know their roles and have figured out how to play together. Richard Schmidt has done a terrific job with this team. That's a team that will be very difficult to beat come conference tournament time. A tip of the hat to their players for the way they play with energy and passion and unselfishness."
Page and
Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) each had 21 for NSU, and Goodrick brought down nine rebounds and blocked three shots. Shark reserves scored 10 of the game's last 15 points, including four points from
Albert Nassar (Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.).
"It would be easy to say our guys didn't play hard, or didn't care, or weren't mentally ready, but that's a copout that I will never use as a coach," said Tuell. " I think our guys wanted to win and came to play. I just think I did a poor job getting them prepared. I thought we had guys giving us effort. I know
Harrison Goodrick was playing his hardest.
Mike Chalas (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.),
Chris Page,
Nick Pendergast (Sr., Bridgewater, Conn.),
Troy Spears (So., Martinsville, Ind.),
Pat Huffine (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.) … just off the top of my head, I thought all of those kids were giving effort. So obviously the old coach needs to accept the blame for this one and help the guys understand what we need them to do. We have great kids on this team. I'm proud of all of them. Some nights the other guys just play a lot better than you do and you have to acknowledge that and move on. But I owe it to my players to figure out how we screwed them up so much and help them get it fixed before Saturday. Because that was not our team out there tonight. Regardless of how well Tampa played, and they were great, we can play a whole lot better than that. End of story."
NSU would end the game shooting 51.9 percent, making 23-of-37 shots inside the arc. They also outrebounded Tampa 32-29.
Next up is a battle with the league's top team in the standings, the Barry Bucs. The squads will tip off at 4 p.m. Saturday at the NSU Arena.
"I've always believed that losses belong to coaches and wins belong to the players, so this one falls on my shoulders," said Tuell. "I thought we had a pretty good understanding of what we needed to do, but our guys looked confused and uncertain, and you can't play hard or play your best if there's confusion. We have to go back to work and fix it. If we don't, Barry might score 200 points in here on Saturday."
