SAINT LEO, Fla. – Nova Southeastern appears to be trending in the right direction at the right time. The Shark defense forced 20 turnovers for the fourth straight ball game, and outscored Saint Leo 46-34 in the second half en route to a 91-77 victory on the road Wednesday night.
David Dennis filled up the stat sheet with a game-high 27 points to go along with six rebounds and eight assists, while
Nick Smith chipped in with 18 of his own to lead Nova Southeastern to its third consecutive 'W'.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Score: Nova Southeastern 91, Saint Leo 77
Records: Nova Southeastern (15-6, 9-6 SSC), Saint Leo (12-15, 8-8 SSC)
Location: Bowman Center | Saint Leo, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
1
st Half | The Sharks silenced the home crowd early on, grabbing a 14-4 advantage in the opening moments after a
Gerard Tarin steal led to a
Pat Huffine lay-in on the offensive end. The Lions would quickly answer back with a 12-0 spurt, though, using a pair of three-point buckets by Daniel Duarte to climb in front 16-14. Both sides traded leads throughout much of the half, but a run of seven straight makes, including a dunk by
Malik Hardy, allowed Nova Southeastern to regain a slight 34-32 edge at the 5:14 mark. An 8-2 push put Saint Leo back on top 43-40 in the final minute of the half. However, a Dennis lay-in narrowed the margin to one before Smith beat the first-half buzzer with a deep triple to hand the Sharks some momentum and a 45-43 advantage.
2
nd Half | Feeding off the late surge at the close of the first half, Nova Southeastern gradually widened its lead at the start of the second. A transition lay-up by Stampley opened up a 56-47 cushion when
Dwayne Gibson and Huffine followed with back-to-back treys to grow the advantage to 63-51. The Sharks caught the Lions napping as Dennis found Smith on an inbound underneath for the old-fashioned three-point play with 13:39 remaining. Comfortably ahead by double-digits, Nova Southeastern withstood any attempt at a run by Saint Leo. Still leading by 16, Dennis supplied the dagger with a filthy scoop shot in the lane plus the foul to send the Lions fans to the exits.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- Wednesday's win secured the season sweep of Saint Leo for the Sharks, giving them their third consecutive victory in the series overall.
- The 'W' also helped Nova Southeastern climb above .500 in road games this season, now at 4-3 in such contests.
- The Sharks led for 32:04 of the ball game.
STATS OF THE NIGHT:
- Nova Southeastern shot a sizzling 62.1 percent in the second half.
- Gibson barely missed his second double-double of the season, accounting for 13 points and nine boards.
- Huffine was one of four Sharks to score in double-figures, registering 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting off the bench.
- The Sharks' 13 steals in the effort marked the 14th time this season finishing with at least 10 steals in a single game.
UP NEXT:
NSU will face yet another tough road test this Saturday at 4 p.m. ET when it travels to face Eckerd. The Sharks knocked off the Tritons 86-82 in the season's first meeting back on Jan. 3. For complete coverage of the action, follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball or visit the schedule page on NSUSharks.com.
