DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team fell on the road Wednesday night behind a late surge from Embry-Riddle, 60-57.
 
The Sharks (10-14) were up 10 with 12:26 left, but were outscored 20-7 to the end by the Eagles (14-9). With 2:57 to go, a nice move by freshman Dwayne Gibson (Indianapolis, Ind.) knotted things up. He got a step on his defender, upfaked the shot to create more space, and hit a fadeaway jumper for a 53-53 tie. Unfortunately, that was the only field goal of that remaining timeframe by NSU.
 
Fifty seconds later, the Eagles regained the lead on 1-of-2 free throws by Dalton Barnes. After a turnover from each side and a Shark miss, time ticked down until with 29.4 seconds left, a contested layup by ERAU's Daniel Kiesling made it a three-point game. Though the Sharks had two looks at the end to tie, neither would fall, and the home team took the win.
 
"Wow, I've been in this league for 12 years, and that has to rank somewhere in the top three of the most physical games I've been a part of," said head coach Gary Tuell. "There was a whole lot of bumping and grinding out there. When you play Embry-Riddle, you better be ready to fight for every inch of the floor. That was incredibly physical, especially anywhere inside 10 feet of the rim."
 
Chris Page (Sr., Plainfield, Ind.) had 20 of his 24 points in the first half, while Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) posted his ninth double-double of the year, scoring 15 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. He made 6-of-9 shots and also had three assists.
 
"There's certainly no shame in losing," said Tuell. "They are a very good team. Playing rested, playing at home, and with no chance to play in the conference tournament, they make every game now a quasi-conference tourney game. I thought we played great on the defensive end all night. Are you kidding me? They shot 31 percent for the game and made 7-of-35 on 3's, which is the root of their offense. Those are crazy good stats for our defense. We were special on defense, but none of us can be proud of what we did offensively."
 
Troy Spears (So., Martinsville, Ind.) added six points, and Gibson made both of his shot attempts for five. Page and Nick Pendergast (Sr., Bridgewater, Conn.) each had four of the team's 14 steals, tying the team's season best. Page's last steal actually created the final opportunity to tie.
 
Barnes' 19 was the ERAU team high, and Reed Ridder had 16. ERAU won despite only shooting 31.3 percent from the field (the lowest by a Shark opponent this season) and putting up a 7-of-35 line from 3-point range. The Eagles did outrebound the Sharks 47-33.
 
"You can't have one guy take half your shots and win a game, and you also can't go 1-for-12 with six turnovers in the last 12 minutes and win a game," said Tuell. "We had a hard time finding any space to operate. We had a better chance of getting open on a New York City subway at rush hour than we did on the court. I am pretty sure they (the ERAU coaches) feel the same way I do because it was physical on both ends. But, I can't imagine anything that will get us better prepared for Eckerd's style of play than this game."
 
To that end, the Sharks will celebrate Senior Day next, this Saturday prior to their 4 p.m. tipoff against the Tritons at the NSU Arena. Honored prior to the game will be Mike Chalas (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Albert Nassar (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Page and Pendergast.