FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The historic season lives on for the No. 5 Nova Southeastern men's basketball team, who defeated West Alabama 89-80 on Sunday night at the Rick Case Arena in the second round of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament. The win sets up a South Florida showdown for the regional title on Tuesday against Sunshine State Conference rival Lynn.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Score: Nova Southeastern 89, West Alabama 80
Records: Nova Southeastern (28-3), West Alabama (23-8)
Location: Rick Case Arena | Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
1ST HALF | The Sharks wasted no time setting the tone, giving the Tigers a look at head coach Jim Crutchfield's hallmark, the vaunted full-court press, from the opening tip-off. Nova Southeastern caused turnovers on the first four possessions, leading to three easy lay-ups, forcing the Tigers to take a very early timeout just 53 seconds in. The Sharks didn't take it easy on their opponents after the timeout, either, extending the streak to six turnovers to begin the game, each one of them in the backcourt, giving them a 10-0 head start on the scoreboard. The Tigers finally got the ball across midcourt and scored their first point on a free throw at the 18:15 mark. West Alabama attempted its first field goal 25 seconds later, but didn't make their first bucket until nearly three and a half minutes in, by which point the Sharks had already hit two more lay-ups for a 14-1 lead. After Mark Matthews scored his 10th point in a row before the 16-minute media timeout, the team's eighth field goal out of 10, the Sharks missed their next six attempts, including five from 3-point range, going nearly five minutes in between makes. The dry spell gave the Tigers an opening to get back into the game, and they took advantage, using an 11-2 run during that span to get within four, at 18-14. The teams traded baskets for the next five minutes, and the lead oscillated in single-digit territory, but the Sharks never let West Alabama get closer than four and before long, they had reeled off 10 straight points to push the lead to 15, the largest of the half, at 39-24 with 4:00 remaining. The Sharks missed their final five shots of the opening period, but still led by 10 at the break, 41-31.
 
2ND HALF | The two teams combined to make their first 11 shots out of halftime – five for West Alabama and six by Nova Southeastern – but the Sharks got enough of an edge from a pair of three-pointers, and a pair at the line to pad the lead to 16 just after the media timeout four minutes in. The Tigers answered with seven in a row to cut the lead back down to nine, but that would be as close as they would get until the final minute, as the Sharks pushed back with nine straight themselves, leading 66-48 with 11 minutes left. Crutchfield's bunch led by a game-high 21 (83-62) just inside the 4:00 mark before the Tigers attempted a valiant comeback, using a 17-3 run, including 12 in a row in a minute and a half, to get within seven. However, with just 30 seconds left, the clock ran out on their fight with the Sharks victorious.
 
INSIDE THE STATS:

• Matthews scored a season-high 32 points, missing just two shots the entire game. He matched his season-high of 13 field goals on just 15 attempts, and was also a perfect 6-for-6 at the line, his first perfect game at the stripe this season with at least three attempts. He scored 18 of his points in the first half, and added 14 more after the break on 5-for-5 from the field and 4-of-4 on free throws. He added a game-high nine rebounds and matched his personal best of four steals, as well.
• David Dennis scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, including both of his three-pointers in the game. He also finished with a game-high five assists and four steals.
• Mikkel Kolstad was the Sharks' third player in double figures, scoring 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, but was only 1-for-1 from long distance. The junior also dished out four assists to tie his Shark career high.
• The Sharks forced 20 turnovers in the game, 10 in each half, and outscored the Tigers 29-9 off turnovers, including a whopping 14-0 margin in the first half.
• Both teams shot efficiently in the second half for the second night in a row. The Tigers followed their 18-of-22 (82%) performance in their quarterfinal defeat of Valdosta State by shooting 19-for-29 (65%), while the Sharks shot 53% (17-32) to defeat Miles and 57% (16-28) in this game.

 
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• With his second block of the game at the 11:47 mark of the second half, Dwayne Gibson broke the program's career blocks record, previously held by Ross Allsop (2007-11) at 103.
• Matthews' first bucket 56 seconds into the game crossed the 600-point threshold this season, the program's first player to hit that mark since inaugural Class of 2007 NSU Hall of Famer David Riley had 711 for the Sun Conference champion 1994-95 squad, the only other team to appear in a national tournament. He currently sits at 631 points on the year, third-most all-time and just 10 out of second.

 
UP NEXT:
The Sharks meet the Lynn Fighting Knights for the regional championship on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. The winner earns a trip to the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind. The Sharks swept the regular season series, winning both games by a combined six points.