MELBOURNE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern dug itself into an early double-digit hole, and never fully recovered, as the Sharks suffered an 85-76 setback at Florida Tech in Saturday's regular-season finale. Malik Hardy led the way with a team-high 15 points, while David Dennis and Nick Smith each chipped in with 14 apiece, yet their efforts weren't enough to end Nova Southeastern's late-season slide.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Score: Florida Tech 85, Nova Southeastern 76
Records: Florida Tech (13-15, 8-12 SSC), Nova Southeastern (17-9, 11-9 SSC)
Location: Clemente Center | Melbourne, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
1st Half | On Senior Day, Florida Tech leaned on its trio of veteran players to jump all over the Sharks in the early going. The Panthers drilled seven of their first nine shot attempts, including three makes by leading scorer Sam Daniel, to take a 17-5 advantage less than four minutes into the ball game. A Dennis three pulled Nova Southeastern back to within one possession, where it would remain with 5:59 left in the half. However, a 6-0 spurt by Florida Tech would stretch the margin back to double-digits before both sides entered the break with the Panthers in font 41-33.

2nd Half | Buckets by Dennis and Gerard Tarin whittled the deficit to only four just 1:41 into the second half. Just as the Sharks appeared to be knocking on the door, though, the defense struggled to string together stops. A lay-in by Daniel opened the Florida Tech lead back to 11 and later reach 15 on a triple by Panthers guard Jordan Majors. The margin remained at double-digits for much of the half until Smith drained a trey to narrow the gap to 77-70 with 2:29 to play. A midrange jumper by Dwayne Gibson brought Nova Southeastern to as close as 81-76 down the stretch. However, the late push arrived a bit too late as the clock eventually ran out on the Sharks.   

STATS OF THE NIGHT:

• Smith recorded his second double-double of the season on Saturday, pulling down 10 rebounds to go along with his 14 points.
• Even in the loss, Nova Southeastern outshot Florida Tech from the floor, 49.0 percent to 42.6 percent.

UP NEXT:
The Sharks will now wait to hear their opponent for Wednesday's SSC Tournament quarterfinal matchup, set to be announced later tonight. Forup-to-date news, follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball.