FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern fell just two points shy of an upset victory at Eckerd in the season's first meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida back on January 18. Roughly three weeks later, the Sharks will look to reverse their fortune at home when both teams meet Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
 
Despite missing leading scorer and rebounder Harrison Goodrick last month, the Sharks pushed the Tritons to the brink even after falling behind by as many as 11 in the first half. Nikita Orap sank a pair of free throws to knot the contest with under a minute to play before Eckerd's Trevon Young hit a scoop shot with 3.8 seconds left to lift the Triton's to a narrow 68-66 victory.
 
Dwayne Gibson recorded 10 points in the effort, and has seemingly improved down the stretch of the regular season with four games remaining on the schedule. Since his 10-point performance, the sophomore has reached double figures in seven consecutive contests, averaging 18.0 points over that span. Furthermore, Gibson has topped the 20-point mark in each of the previous three games, tying a career high with 24 points his last two times out against Florida Tech and Rollins.
 
The Sharks will need to find some additional scoring besides Gibson and their other usual suspects, though, versus Eckerd's league-leading defense on Saturday. Outside of the combination of Gibson, Goodrick and Troy Spears, Nova Southeastern failed to have another player tally at least six points in Wednesday's loss on the road at Rollins. Freshman Carl Alenfall tied a season-high with five points in 17 minutes, but the Sharks' bench managed just seven points as a whole.
 
The Tritons currently surrender 73.3 points per game this season, but have recently raised their level of play another notch – particularly versus Tampa earlier this week. En route to its third straight win, Eckerd limited the Spartans to 28.8 percent shooting and just 46 points overall.
 
One of four players to average double figures, Drushaun McLaurn paces the Eckerd offense with 15.7 points per game. However, the sophomore guard notched only seven points on 2-of-7 shooting the last time both clubs squared off.
 
David Halberstam will have the call live from the Rick Case Arena. For complete coverage of the action, log onto NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_MBasketball.