WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In what began as a near-perfect start for Nova Southeastern in the first half Wednesday night, eventually turned into an unfavorable result as Palm Beach Atlantic overcame an early double-deficit deficit from the opening tip to beat the Sharks 82-71 at Rubin Arena in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Dwayne Gibson netted a game-high 20 points in the effort to go along with 13 points from Harrison Goodrick. The Sharks were plagued, though, by 21 turnovers that resulted in 21 points for the Sailfish in addition to being outrebounded by a wide 47-17 margin.

"We got off to a nice start offensively today and I liked the enthusiasm our kids were playing with," said head coach Gary Tuell. "Once PBA finally got the lead, though, it was a different story. PBA switched defenses on us throughout the night and did a great job."

Following a 16-point effort off the bench in the season's first meeting with the Sailfish, Nikita Orap came out with plenty of confidence once again after earning the start Wednesday. The sophomore tallied the ball game's first six points before Troy Spears added three of his own to push the Sharks out to an instant 9-0 cushion.

Palm Beach Atlantic soon found its rhythm on the offensive end, and aided by a handful of Nova Southeastern miscues, evened the contest up at 16-16 midway through the opening period.

That momentum continued for the home team as Malek Barber gave the Sailfish their first lead of the night at the 6:32 mark on a lay-in before their advantage grew to 36-22 as part of a 20-2 run over a 5:48 span.

After trailing by a dozen at the intermission, Gibson attempted to guide the Sharks back in the second half, pouring in 18 of his 20 points in the final 20 minutes. A pair of treys by the sophomore cut the deficit to single-digits, but the Sharks would only narrow the gap to as close as eight the rest of the way.

Following the defeat, Nova Southeastern now sits at 5-15 overall and 2-11 in the league. Palm Beach Atlantic, meanwhile, moves to 10-10 with the victory and 6-7 in conference play.  

NSU will return to Rick Case Arena this Saturday at 4 p.m. ET in a meeting with SSC foe Florida Tech. For complete coverage of the action, log onto NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball.