WINTER PARK, Fla. – Twice over the last 1:05, the Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team trimmed their deficit to Rollins to one, but free throws at the end kept them from getting over the hump in a 78-75 loss Saturday night.
 
The first half saw each team hold healthy advantages, with the Sharks (9-12, 4-8 SSC) up seven at 10:41, 21-14, and Rollins overcoming that to go up eight at 4:36, 31-23. But a flurry by Chris Page (Sr., Planfield, Ind.), who scored all 12 of his first-half points from 4:03 to 1:21, combined with a Casey Carroll (R-Jr., Youngstown, Ohio) layup with 15 seconds left, made it a two-point game at the break, 39-37.
 
Rollins (16-6, 8-3 SSC) kept the lead all throughout the second half, matching their largest of eight with only 3:09 left (72-64). Again, the Sharks stormed back, scoring nine of the next 11 points to trail 74-73. Page hit a 3-pointer, and after a Rollins bucket, Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) put in a short hook, followed by a Dwayne Gibson (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.) jumper from long range at the 1:05 mark.
 
The two teams traded turnovers, and Rollins missed the front end of a one-and-one. But another Shark miscue led to two Jeff Merton free throws with 12.3 seconds left. NSU was given a last gasp, as even though a 3-point attempt rimmed out, Carroll was there to clean up the glass with a putback dunk at 3.3.
 
The Sharks committed a foul before the in-bound, meaning no time came off the clock. Yet again, the Tars had a 2-for-2 trip to the line, this time by Jeff Galvis, which proved to be enough, as a desperation 3-pointer from just inside midcourt was too strong in the attempt to tie.

"As I told the guys afterwards, we can't continue to shoot ourselves in the foot and expect to beat good teams like Rollins," said head coach Gary Tuell. "By the same token, if we make up our minds to do a few little things that we preach, then we would be among the top three or four teams in this league. When we identify mistakes and point them out to the players, we do that so they can recognize the mistake and fix it. Our guys say they understand the problem or problems, but they don't always fix it.

"Our recognition and 100 percent commitment to defend, our lack of paying attention to blocking out, and our carelessness with the ball have been our issues all year. I love our guys ... Love them! But if they don't hold themselves accountable, and make those areas of concern their responsibility to fix, then we will continue to struggle on nights when we do a lot of things well enough to get the win. I've said all year that we're close. To the coaching staff, it seems like an easy fix. Our guys are not defiant, but they certainly seem to be resistant to making the fixes that would put us in a whole different tax bracket."
 
Page was the top scorer for the Sharks with 22, including six 3-pointers (tying a career high), and Goodrick made all six of his field goal attempts (and was 8-of-10 from the line) for 21. Though his consecutive double-double streak came to an end at four games, Goodrick tied for the team high with Nick Pendergast (Sr., Bridgewater, Conn.) with seven.
 
Gibson was next with seven points off the bench. Pendergast and BJ Edwards (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) both had six, with Edwards turning in a perfect 3-of-3 shooting line. The Sharks outrebounded Rollins 41-35; in addition to the two with seven, Carroll added six and Edwards four. Pendergast was also the team leader with five assists (without committing a turnover) and Goodrick added four.

"We did a lot of good things out there," said Tuell. "Chris Page had yet another great and selfless performance as our point guard and leader. He is trying so hard to do what the team needs from him, and every player and coach is very proud of him. Harrison Goodrick gave us another warrior effort. He has developed into a terrific player and just keeps getting better. We got a great lift from BJ Edwards and a solid performance from both Nick Pendergast and Casey Carroll. Jordan Stookey (So., Warsaw, Ind.) did a great job for us when he was in there. He is really making an effort in practice to help our team, and it's beginning to show in games."

Rollins' Merton took game honors with 23 points. Though the Tars made 12 3-pointers, the Sharks held them to four after the break, in 14 attempts (28.6 percent).
 
The Sharks look to get back into the win column Wednesday night, hosting Tampa at the NSU Arena. Game time is 7:30 p.m. in Fort Lauderdale.

"I thought all the guys did some good things," said Tuell. "Certainly we did enough good things to beat a very good Rollins team on their floor. But in the end, the accumulation of ignoring the little things added up to a loss. I know our guys see it. They see how close they are to being really good. Hopefully they will find the will, or maybe just get mad enough to do the things that make a difference. If they do, we can make a run at the whole thing in March. It's on them. They can fix it if they want it bad enough."