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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (11-6, 4-3 SSC) will seek its fifth conference win of the season this Wednesday, Jan. 26 as the Sharks travel to Lakeland, Fla. to face Florida Southern (13-5, 5-2 SSC) at 7:30 p.m.

The Sharks take on the Moccasins in the middle of a tough three game stretch that pits the Sharks against the top three teams in the Sunshine State Conference. This past Saturday, the Sharks hosted the No. 12 Tampa Spartans and took them to overtime before falling, 86-78.

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the outcome Saturday against Tampa,” said head coach Gary Tuell. “We did enough good things to win the game and we certainly had our opportunities. But missed defensive assignments and missed free throws down the stretch were costly. There isn’t much margin for error when you’re playing a top 15 team that’s 17-1 and has such a terrific senior leader like Tampa has in Rashad Callaway. In the overtime we were too passive.

“If you want to beat the best and travel in that company, you have to be aggressive and take it when the opportunity is there because good teams like Tampa, Florida Southern and Rollins are never going to hand it to you. Our guys need to learn to take the game by the throat when they have that chance. It’s a learning process for our players because they haven’t been in that situation before. Hopefully, if we have the chance again, we’ll take it rather than hope the other guy gives it to us.”

Despite taking their sixth loss of the season, the Sharks shot efficiently against the top defense in the SSC. The Sharks shot 52 percent (27-for-52) from the floor, their best mark against a conference opponent. In a game that was played at a below average pace for the Sharks, NSU had a positive outcome on 56 percent of their possessions. The Spartans barely escaped with the win by shooting 36 percent on 39 three-point attempts, over half their total field goals in the game.

“But on the plus side, we battled them evenly for 40 minutes in one of the best-played college basketball games you could hope to see,” said Tuell. “Both teams had problems matching up with the other team, both teams played to their strengths, both teams competed hard and executed well. They came into the game as the leading defensive field goal percentage team in our league, but we shot over 50 percent from the floor and nearly that well on threes. We did a good job of blocking them out in the first half but got a little sloppy with that in the final 10 minutes and that hurt us.

“Tampa’s kids made some tough shots, but so did our guys. Alex Gynes (Sr., Nowra, Australia) was terrific for us and John Brooks (Sr., Perris, Calif.) made a heck of a play for us to tie the game in the final minute. We got great contributions from a lot of guys, which continues to be our strength. I thought Cody Dennison (So., Newark, Ohio), Jacob Reed (Fr., Perth, Australia) and Teddy Tassy (Jr., Boca Raton, Fla.) all played well and I was glad to see Ross Allsop (Sr., Sydney, Australia) play with more determination and confidence than he’s shown in a long while. Hopefully Ross can continue and build on that. We need him.”

The Sharks move on to face a team that is competing with them for the SSC scoring title, as NSU (83.9 points per game) and FSC (80.8 ppg) rank first and second, respectively in scoring offense. The Mocs shoot 44.4 percent from the floor, second worst in the conference, but make up for their poor shooting by playing at a faster pace (61 field goal attempts per game, third in the SSC by 0.4 attempts) and converting on a conference-best 77.5 percent of their free throw attempts.

“Florida Southern has been playing short-handed lately with Terry Jenkins out and Cameron Wooten sidelined by an injury,” said Tuell. “I hope both of them play against us Wednesday because it means they’re feeling better and because we want to play against everyone’s best. No one knows injuries better than us. We haven’t had all of our scholarship players on the floor for the same game in six years, so I can empathize with other coaches when they have players missing games.

“You know Florida Southern is good. They’re the only team in the league who has beaten Tampa, and they did it convincingly at Tampa and without Terry Jenkins. No team in the league presents as many problems shooting the three-ball as Southern. In Rion Rayfield, Brandon Jenkins and Terry Jenkins they have three of the best shooters in the nation, much less our conference. But their improvement can be tied to the recent play of Brett Bailey and Andre Hawkins inside as much as the play of their guards. Those two guys have really given them a lift.”

The Sharks have not fared well in the past against the Mocs as NSU is 4-15 all-time against FSC. The Sharks are currently on a five game losing skid against FSC and haven’t won in Lakeland since January of 2007. A win in FSC’s gym will be no easier this season as the Mocs have the keys to exploit the Sharks’ defensive strategy.

“Our defensive philosophy with this year’s team is radically different from anything we’ve done in the past, and it certainly seems to play to Southern’s advantage more than most other teams in our conference,” Tuell stated. “That’s a concern for us. But beating Southern also requires that you keep up with them on the offensive end and we’ll need to find ways to score if we hope to stay close. The loss to Tampa was tough to swallow for our players so I’m interested to see how they bounce back on the road against a very good basketball team. This is such a difficult stretch of games, but I like our team and I like the direction they’ve been going in. They continue to listen and learn and work hard to improve. If they keep it up, a month from now they can be a very good and very dangerous team to play come tournament time.

“I was proud of their effort and execution against Tampa. Heck, I’ve been proud of these guys most of the season. They do the right things in class and off the court. And they work as hard and have a togetherness that’s better than any team I’ve had at NSU. So we’ll go to Southern, give them our best effort and continue to learn about ourselves and take away the things we learn from this game to help us get better in the future.”

Fans can follow the Sharks via live video HERE and live stats HERE. Fans can also keep track of the game through the NSU Athletics Twitter Feed at www.twitter.com/NSUSharks.