FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Eckerd's league-leading defense lived up to its billing Saturday evening as Nova Southeastern was limited to 32.7 percent shooting en route to a 72-52 setback at the Rick Case Arena.
 
Troy Spears led the Sharks with 16 points in the loss, while Harrison Goodrick added 14 of his own on 4-of-8 shooting. However, Dwayne Gibson and Max Kurkowski were the only other Nova Southeastern to log at least five points throughout the ball game.
 
The Sharks hung tough early on, holding Eckerd scoreless for the first 3:19 of the contest. The Tritons would grasp a 19-14 edge, though, with 7:52 remaining in the first half until Spears brought Nova Southeastern quickly back to within a deuce following one of his three three-point field goals on the night.
 
Taking advantage from the free throw line, Eckerd would soon stretch that margin to eight at the 3:20 mark before four more tallies from the charity stripe grew the margin to 35-23 in favor of the visitors. As a whole, Eckerd attempted 33 free throws Saturday as opposed to just 19 by the Sharks.
 
Seeking some sort of momentum right before the intermission, Nova Southeastern dialed up some timely offense and reeled off the final five points of the half. With the clock winding down, Spears connected on a buzzer-beater from just in front of half court, sending the Sharks into the locker room down 37-28.
 
That momentum wouldn't carry over for the Sharks, however, as Eckerd ran off nine straight points to begin the second half and never looked back.
 
"I don't think we played as hard as we needed to get the win," said assistant coach Marquise Kiffin following the defeat. "We went over to Eckerd and played those guys tough the first time this season, but tonight we didn't compete at that same level."
 
Following the loss, Nova Southeastern now sits at 5-18 on the season and 2-14 in the Sunshine State Conference. Eckerd, meanwhile, improves to 18-6 and 11-4 in the league, now just one-half game behind Barry for the top spot in the SSC.
 
NSU will look to right the ship when it travels to face Embry-Riddle next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. For complete coverage of the action, log onto NSUSharks.com