NSU Sharks News

NSU Survives Overtime In 89-84 Thriller vs. Lynn In BlueCross and BlueShield of Florida Sunshine State Conference Semi-Finals

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Mar. 4, 2009) - The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team won a controversial 89-84 overtime BlueCross and BlueShield of Florida Sunshine State Conference Semi-Final Tournament game over Lynn University on Wednesday night inside the Arena At The Don Taft University Center.

Down by three with eight seconds remaining, Lynn's Chris Hall drained a long three pointer to erase a Shark lead for the first time since the Fighting Knights led 10-9 with 13:41 left to play in the first half. Just three seconds later, Lynn's John Brown fouled Sharks point guard Teddy Tassy (Fr., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) as he brought the ball up the court. Tassy made the first free throw but missed his second attempt. Lynn's Luke Postorino collected the rebound and passed the ball to an open Randy Jones, who went in for a contested lay-up as time expired. Jones made the lay-up, but whether the ball left his hand before or after the buzzer sounded was unknown. The officials huddled and came to the conclusion that Jones was fouled by Tassy before the buzzer expired but determined that his shot was not released in time to beat the buzzer. With 0.3 seconds on the clock Jones stepped up to the free throw line for two shots. He made the first attempt to tie the game at 77 but his second attempt rimmed out and was gathered by Sharks forward Dionte Perry (Sr., Lake Worth, Fla.) to send the game into overtime.

With three Lynn post players fouled out, The Sharks pounded the ball in to the post in the overtime period. Junior David Naylor (Melbourne, Australia) went 3-3 from the field in the extra period and gathered three rebounds while Perry contributed with three points and four rebounds to lead the Sharks to an 89-84 victory. In overtime, NSU out-shot Lynn 50.9 percent (5-9) to 28.6 percent (2-7) and out-rebounded the Fighting Knights 10-2.

"Wow," said NSU head coach Gary Tuell. "There were a lot of wows in that game. I just hope the way it ended in regulation was the right. It was a great officiating crew tonight and I hope we get them every night. It was a heck of a game. I'm sure it was a lot of fun for the fans but not so much fun for the coaches. I do feel bad for Scott McMillan (Lynn's head coach). He is a great coach and a good friend. I know that I hated to play him in the first game."

The Sharks won despite the play of Lynn's Chris Hall. Hall provided the heroics for Fighting Knights, scoring a season high 43 points on 14-29 shooting from the field and 13-15 shooting from the line. "Hall was a wow," Tuell said. "He made some tough shots to keep them in the game. Anytime anyone can get 43 points you have to take your hat off for them."

Naylor led NSU with 27 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal. He also set NSU program records with 17 made free throws and 20 free throw attempts. "Naylor was another wow," Tuell said. "Every big play we needed, David made. He is playing hurt and is the best one legged player in America. We wouldn't have won this game without him."

We're a Jekyll and Hyde team," Tuell added. "We're terrifically good at building leads and terrifically bad at holding them. We were able to play our freshman a lot at Florida Southern last Saturday and they definitely gave us a lift tonight. Iran (Hollis) is constantly improving. (Teddy) Tassy continues to make the tough plays. (Darrin) Williams is beat up but finding a way to contribute. We even got Alex Gynes (who had been out since January 7th) back on the floor tonight, which was a positive. Ross Allsop is coming along with his injury and should see more minutes Saturday. This team is still a work in progress."

Hollis scored seven points and collected six rebounds. Tassy had 11 points, two rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes. Williams added four points and four rebounds.

After finding themselves down 8-0 to start the game, NSU rallied to go on an 18-5 run to lead 18-13 with ten minutes left in the first half. After taking a 34-26 lead into the break, they went on an 11-2 run to begin the second half and led 45-28 with 16:55 left to play in regulation. From that point on, Hall took over for Lynn, scoring 29 points on 9-15 shooting from the floor and 9-9 shooting from the free throw line to bring the Fighting Knights back into the game.

The Sharks shot 50.9 percent (28-55) for the game while Lynn was held to 42.5 percent (31-73). NSU out-rebounded the Fighting Knights 46-34. The Sharks had a 40-28 advantage in points in the paint and made 11 more shots from the charity stripe.

"I'm sure Rollins is looking forward to playing us as much as we're looking forward to playing them," Tuell concluded. "We've got the semi-finals at home. We're still alive and that's all that matters."

NSU advances to the semi-finals of the BlueCross and BlueShield of Florida Sunshine State Conference Championships vs. Rollins College at 7:30 pm on Saturday, March 7th inside the Arena At The Don Taft University Center.

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