WINTER PARK, Fla. – A sluggish start forced Nova Southeastern into an uphill battle from the opening tip, and was never able to recover as the Sharks dropped Wednesday's Sunshine State Conference matchup against Rollins by the final score of 86-67 in Winter Park, Florida.
The Sharks limited the Tars to a season-low 56 points en route to a seven-point victory in the season's first meeting back on January 11. That wasn't the case this time around, though, as Rollins jumped out to a 45-26 advantage at halftime before improving to 8-6 in the league and 14-10 overall. The loss, meanwhile, dips the Sharks to 2-13 in the SSC and 5-17 on the year.
Sophomore Dwayne Gibson tied a career high with 24 points in the effort to go along with 15 and 12 points, respectively, from Harrison Goodrick and Troy Spears.
Coupled with seven early turnovers, Nova Southeastern made just one of its first 11 field goal attempts and trailed 11-2 before Goodrick ended a seven-plus minute scoring drought with a lay-in at the 11:08 mark of the first half.
"Whenever you struggle to score offensively, scoring two points in eight minutes, it takes a toll on you," said assistant coach Marquise Kiffin. "Eventually your defense doesn't hold up when you have an offensive drought like we did to start the game."
The Sharks eventually managed to find some sort of shooting touch from beyond the arc, but unfortunately Rollins matched them bucket for bucket as both teams traded treys on four straight possessions to keep the score at 21-12 in favor of the home team.
Paced by 14 first-half points from Eric Castaneda off the bench, the Tars soon doubled their advantage and entered the break ahead by 19 – matching their largest lead throughout the opening 20 minutes.
Like he has on a number of occasions in the recent weeks, Gibson heated up for 21 of his 24 points in the second half. Despite bringing the Sharks back to within 13 following his fifth triple of the ball game with 6:45 to play, however, Gibson's offensive outburst couldn't erase the team's 22 turnovers as Rollins avoided the season sweep by earning its sixth win in its last eight tries.
The Sharks limited the Tars' starters to just 6-of-26 from the floor on the night, yet were outscored by their bench by a 60-7 margin.
NSU will return to the Rick Case Arena this Saturday at 4 p.m. ET for a clash with Eckerd. For complete coverage of the action, visit NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter at @NSU_MBasketball.
