FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Florida Tech men's basketball team was no match for No. 4 Nova Southeastern in their SSC matchup Saturday afternoon as the Panthers were defeated 102-56 on the road at Rick Case Arena.

The Crimson & Gray drop to 8-8 overall and 2-6 in conference play with the loss. Tech remains winless on the road at 0-5. NSU improves to 11-2 this season and 5-2 in the SSC.

Following his 44-point outing against Eckerd on Wednesday, Derek Murphy scored a game-high 22 points against the Sharks to go along with six rebounds and two blocks. Jalen Hodges finished with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting with five rebounds and two blocks. Antonis Pefanis tallied nine points and Valur Valsson added eight points, four rebounds and five assists.

Florida Tech struggled shooting the ball all game long making 21-of-64 (33%) shots including 4-of-21 from three-point range. NSU, on the other hand, was 38-of-66 (58%) from the field while making 18-of-36 (50%) beyond the arc. The Panthers went 10-of-14 on free throws and the Sharks made eight of their 12 attempts. 

NSU won the rebounding battle 43-34. Both teams scored 19 second-chance points, while  the Sharks had a 34-28 advantage in points in the paint. The NSU bench accounted for more than half of its points, and outscored Florida Tech's bench 52-5 in the game.
 
Additionally, the Sharks forced Tech into 18 turnovers on the day and scored 22 points off turnovers and 10 fast-break points. The Panthers had 0 points on the break in the game and scored just two points off NSU's 12 turnovers. 

The play was fairly even between the teams early on. Tech led 11-7 with 15:57 to go in the first half after Valsson's first three-point basket of the day. With 12:07 left in the opening frame, the Panthers had a 20-19 edge over the Sharks following two made free throws by Pefanis.

The game took a major shift after those free throws as NSU ensued on a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to grab a 28-20 lead. Following a jumper by Murphy with 8:49 to go in the first half, the Sharks scored 16 straight points to grab a 44-22 advantage with 2:22 remaining.

A dunk by Hodges with 2:10 left was the final basket of the half for the Panthers as they went into halftime trailing 47-24.

Following halftime, the NSU offense picked up right where it left off, increasing its lead to 71-41 with 12:55 remaining on a three by Jake Maranville, who went 6-of-7 from beyond the arc in the game.

Murphy never let up for the Panthers in the second half as he scored 16 of his game-high 22 points. Despite his efforts, Tech could not slow NSU down as the Sharks knocked down 12 threes in the second half alone to build their lead to as much as 48 points with less than a minute to go on the clock.

The Panthers will look to put this one behind them and focus their attention on next Wednesday's SSC showdown with the Tampa Spartans at the Clemente Center. Tip-off between Tech and UT is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
For the latest news, updates and information on the Florida Tech men's basketball team, visit FloridaTechSports.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Panthers news by following Florida Tech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.