ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Nova Southeastern continued to stake its claim as the hottest team in Sunshine State Conference on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Sharks were held nearly 20 points below their season average, yet found a way to gut out a tough 73-68 win against an Eckerd club that entered the afternoon with a record of 10-1 at home this season. With leading scorer David Dennis held in check, finishing with a season-low eight points in the effort, Dwayne Gibson answered the call by pouring in a game-high 26 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. The win marked the fourth straight for head coach Jim Crutchfield's bunch, giving Nova Southeastern its first regular season sweep of Eckerd since back in 2005-06.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Score: Nova Southeastern 73, Eckerd 68
Records: Nova Southeastern (16-6, 10-6 SSC), Eckerd (17-6, 10-6 SSC)
Location: McArthur Center | St. Petersburg, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
1st Half | Eckerd landed the first punches of the afternoon as Marco Behori drained a pair of three-point buckets on the opening two possessions. The Tritons soon stretched their advantage to 15-4 following another triple, this time from Myron Hagins. However, the Sharks would withstand the early surge and drew back to within 20-19 after a dump down from Nick Stampley to Nick Smith underneath the basket resulted in an easy two. Moments later, Pat Huffine handed Nova Southeastern its first lead of the ball game on three in transition. Eckerd would answer right back, though, with eight unanswered points and eventually entered the locker room ahead 36-28 after holding the Sharks to only four points over the final 8:54 of the half.

2nd Half | The ball game turned into the Dwayne Gibson show to start the second half. The junior sunk a trio of three's in the first 5:25 to pull the Sharks with a deuce before Malik Hardy evened the contest at 45-45 with 13:54 remaining. Another set of free throws, this time by Dennis, put the Sharks on top as they were then able to maintain a slight one-point edge after Smith canned a deep triple from the wing. The two sides would trade leads until Gibson's sixth three-pointer of the game helped the Sharks regain a 59-56 edge at the 6:55 mark. Another jumper by Gibson extended the margin to 64-59 before the Sharks leaned on their defense down the stretch to steal the road victory.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Awaiting the outcome of the matchup between Barry and Saint Leo, Nova Southeastern now sits just 0.5 games out of first place in the league standings.

STATS OF THE NIGHT:

• The Sharks shot only 35.4 percent for the ball game, but picked up a key 18 points in second-chance opportunities.  
• Stampley recorded 12 points off the bench, his seventh double-digit points output of the season.
• The SSC leader in rebounding margin, Eckerd was outworked by Nova Southeastern 41-38 on the glass.
• Nova Southeastern outscored Eckerd 45-32 in the second half Saturday.

UP NEXT:
NSU will look to keep rolling when it welcomes Rollins to the Rick Case Arena this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. For complete coverage of the action, follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball or visit the schedule page on NSUSharks.com.