LAKELAND, Fla. – Nova Southeastern stormed back from a 15-point, second half deficit to close within one with 18.8 seconds remaining, but was unable to complete the comeback effort as the Sharks were turned away by Florida Southern 73-71 Saturday night at the Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Florida.
The loss marks the sixth of the season by five points or less for the Sharks, and now drops them to 2-10 in the Sunshine State Conference and 5-14 overall. Florida Southern, meanwhile, climbs over .500 in the league at 6-5 and 8-12 on the year.
Troy Spears paced the Sharks' offensive attack with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including the lay-up in the final minute that put fear into Moccasins' fans with the score closed to 72-71. Dwayne Gibson added 16 points and eight rebounds in 37 minutes of action. Nova Southeastern struggled throughout much of the night, though, shooting just 38.5 percent as a whole from the floor.
Florida Southern's Jarel Spellman, the league leader in blocked shots, nearly pieced together a triple-double in the contest after filling up the stat sheet with 20 points, 12 boards and eight blocks. Freshman Brett Hanson registered 16 points off the bench, drilling four three-pointers despite the Mocs' mustering a tough 7-for-31 performance from beyond the arc.
Nova Southeastern jumped out to a 10-3 advantage right out the gate Saturday, but struggled to find any sort of consistency on the offensive end and saw Florida Southern pull in front by 11 with just over six minutes left in the first half.
An 8-0 response brought the Sharks back to within one possession late in the opening period, yet a trey by the Mocs' Michael Volovic just before the halftime buzzer stretched Florida Southern's cushion back to 38-29 at the break.
Showing off an inside-out game with a pair of baseline jumpers and a put-back, Spellman helped grow the Mocs' cushion to 15 early in the second half. Behind a number of reserves, though, the Sharks gradually began to chip away at the deficit.
A Max Kurkowski lay-up sliced Florida Southern's lead to eight before Pat Huffine drained a triple from the wing to cut the margin to four at the 3:53 mark. Moments later, Carl Alenfall converted in the paint to further trim the deficit to just two. As has been the story time and time again, however, the Sharks failed to find the big shot when they needed it most as both losses to Florida Southern this season have been decided by a combined five points.
NSU will look to get over the hump this Wednesday in a midweek matchup on the road at Palm Beach Atlantic. For complete coverage of the action, log onto NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball.
