TAMPA, Fla. – Nova Southeastern dictated the tempo from the opening tip, and leaned on 32 points off turnovers to cruise to a wire-to-wire, 87-77 road victory over Tampa in Sunshine State Conference action on Saturday evening. Dwayne Gibson paced five players in double figures with a team-high 15 points, while Gerard Tarin chipped in with 14 and David Dennis added 13 of his own to help head coach Jim Crutchfield's club complete the regular season sweep of the Spartans.  

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Score: Nova Southeastern 87, Tampa 77
Records: Nova Southeastern (13-6, 7-6 SSC), Tampa (7-12, 3-10 SSC)
Location: Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
1^st Half | A blistering 3-of-3 start from the field pushed Nova Southeastern out to a 7-0 advantage just 62 seconds into the contest. A 3:05 scoring drought allowed Tampa to climb back to within 13-10 in the early portion of the half. However, a rare three-point bucket by Nick Stampley – his fourth of the year to be exact – reenergized the Sharks before Gibson capped a 51-second, 11-0 run with a steal and slam to open up a 24-10 cushion. Still in front by double-digits, Stampley converted a putback to give the Sharks their largest lead of the half at 47-31 as eight players recorded at least one made field goal in the first 20 minutes.  

2^nd Half | Keeping its foot on the gas, Nova Southeastern used an uncontested three-point attempt from the corner by Tarin to extend the lead to 57-39 just minutes into the second half. Pat Huffine later added a triple in transition, keeping the Sharks comfortably in front by 19. Still up by a healthy margin at the midway mark, Dennis converted a filthy reverse lay-in on the baseline, which would eventually prove to be more than plenty as the final score didn't indicate truly how dominant the Sharks were on Saturday.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Saturday marked Nova Southeastern's first season sweep of Tampa since back in 2014-15
• With the win, the Sharks have climbed back above .500 in league play at 7-6.

STATS OF THE NIGHT:

• Nova Southeastern turned the ball over just 10 times in the effort, while converting 20 Tampa miscues into 32 points.
• Six different Sharks hit at least one three on Saturday, including a 3-of-5 performance from deep by Gibson.
• Huffine followed up his 15-point performance from Wednesday by tallying 13 more off the bench against the Spartans.
• After allowing Tampa's Pat Bacon to get to the foul line 15 times in the year's first meeting back in November, the Sharks limited him to only two attempts on Saturday.

UP NEXT:
Following the victory, NSU will receive a week of rest before welcoming Embry-Riddle to the Rick Case Arena next Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. For complete coverage of the action, follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball or visit the schedule page on NSUSharks.com.