Although the Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team entered Tuesday’s matchup with Southern New Hampshire as the highest-scoring team in Division II, it was defense that carried the second-seeded Sharks past the seventh-seeded Penmen in the Division II tournament’s Elite Eight.
Nova Southeastern held SNHU to 18 points in the second half and extended its season with a 68-60 victory at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
SNHU (24-11) had an 18-point lead early in the second half, but shot 6 of 25 from the field after halftime.
“They stepped it up on defense in the second half,” SNHU coach Jack Perri said. “Their pressure was greater. In the halfcourt, they smothered us a little bit. We weren’t getting the paint touches we got in the first half. You’re not going to win many games when you score 18 points in a half.”
Nova Southeastern (31-2), which entered the contest averaging 102.1 points per game, trailed 54-47 with 9:52 to play, but went on a 9-0 spurt to take a 56-54 lead. SNHU didn’t score for a stretch of 5:44 during the 9-0 run. Matt Becht made it a 56-56 game with 4:08 remaining, but Nova Southeastern took the lead for good on an old-fashioned three-point play by Trey Doomes with 3:17 left.
“I felt pretty good when we got it (the lead) to seven,” Perri said. “It wasn’t a quick spurt by them, either. It was methodical. More of a drought by us.”
Becht scored a game-high 18 points. SNHU received 12 points from Noah Kamba and 10 from Paul Greene. Jordan Brathwaite added seven points and seven rebounds.
It was SNHU’s first trip to the Elite Eight since the 2014-15 season, and the loss ended the team’s 10-game winning streak.
“I thought the guys showed well,” Perri said. “They did a good job of applying what was in our game plan. Just didn’t make enough plays down the stretch, I guess.”
Ten players scored for Nova Southeastern, which stretched its winning streak to 19 games. Isaiah Fuller and Mike Moore each tossed in a team-high 11 points for the Sharks, who won despite shooting 32.7% from the field (18 of 55). Nova Southeastern was 4 of 18 from 3-point range.
Nova Southeastern, last year’s Division II champion, will face sixth-seeded Cal State San Bernardino in Thursday’s Final Four (2 p.m). SNHU transfer Evan Guillory collected seven points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes to help Cal State San Bernardino defeat third-seeded Gannon in the first of Tuesday’s four games.
SNHU shot 59% from the field in the first half and had a 42-28 halftime lead. The Penmen made 9 of their 15 3-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes.
It was a rough shooting half for Nova Southeastern, which was 8 of 32 from the field (25.0%) and 2 of 12 from 3-point range (16.6%). Shane Hunter, Nova Southeastern’s leading scorer (15.8 ppg), was scoreless in the half and the Sharks didn’t make their first field goal until 4:57 into the game. Hunter finished the game with six points.
SNHU was 19 of 47 on field goal attempts in the game, including 11 of 27 on shots from beyond the 3-point arc.
“So proud of our guys,” Perri said. “Pleasure to coach this group. Hopefully we’ve established the environment I’ve been looking for and we’ve set ourselves up for success in the future.”
