Men's Basketball Edged Out in Heartbreaking Road Defeat

By: Craig Heenighan

Posted: 3/2/10

Florida Tech

The NSU men's basketball dropped an agonizingly close encounter against the Florida Tech Panthers by a score of 70-69 on Feb, 20.

The two teams battled valiantly throughout and could not be separated at the end of regulation so overtime was needed and the Panthers prevailed in well fought encounter.

The Panther led for much of the early first half play but a 14-0 run by the Sharks propelled them into the lead and despite a Florida Tech comeback late in the half the Sharks led 40-36 at the break.

The second half followed much of the same format as it was the Panthers who made most of the running early in the half. Leading for most of the latter stages of the contest the Sharks found themselves down by as many as seven with the end of regulation fast approaching. However, NSU forced their way back into contention courtesy of a jumper from junior Alex Gynes, a lay-up by junior Lemar Dyer and a game tying three pointer from junior Teddy Tassy with 34 seconds remaining in the contest.

Down by three in overtime, freshman Brian Cahill made a lay-up and was fouled en route to the basket providing him with a subsequent free throw opportunity which he didn't miss to give the Sharks a one point lead. However, it was heartbreak for the Sharks as the Panthers made two free throws of their own with only four seconds remaining to claim the victory by one.

Cahill and Gynes led the way for the Sharks offensively with 14 points apiece, sophomore Rob Huntington contributed with 13 and Tassy amassed 10.

Palm Beach Atlantic

The Sharks succumbed to back-to-back losses for the week as they were edged out by the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish 65-54 on Feb, 24.

The Sharks poor offense was their Achilles heel on the night as they struggled to find a rhythm and shot only 27.6 percent from the field in the first half in what was their lowest offensive output since the opening game of the season.

Despite the below par performance from the Sharks they led 31-28 early in the second half. However, the Sailfish stormed into the lead with a 13-2 run to lead the Sharks 41-33. The Sharks were unable to make a dent in the Sailfish lead as the closest they would come is seven points. Palm Beach Atlantic ran out comfortable winners in the end to secure only their third victory of the season.

Tassy led the way for NSU with 15 points with junior John Brooks the only other Shark in double figures with 10 points.

The Sharks will be opening to get back to winning ways as they face Florida Southern on the road in their next encounter which is the final regular season game of the season. The Sharks overall season record moves to 13-13.