MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Florida Tech men's basketball team was unable to overcome a tough first half against No. 10 Nova Southeastern Saturday afternoon and the Panthers fell to the Sharks 95-81 at the Clemente Center.
 
Sesan Russell paced all players in the game with 28 points on an efficient 11-of-13 shooting, including 2-of-3 beyond the arc, while making 4-of-5 free throws.  

"Sesan is such a great player for us," Mims added. "What a night. He is coming back off a bad elbow, his shooting elbow, and he goes there and had a tremendous game. He is such an explosive guy and definitely one of the best young guards in the country."
 
Derek Murphy recorded 16 points, five rebounds and four assists while Jalen Hodges added 16 points and three steals. Runako Ziegler scored 14 points on 6-of-7 from the field while also collecting four rebounds and four steals. Valur Valsson tallied five points, five rebounds and four assists.
 
Both Florida Tech and Nova Southeastern had strong shooting performances in the game. The Panthers finished 28-of-55 (50.9%) from the field, 5-of-13 (41.7%) from three and 20-of-25 (80%) from the line. NSU finished with an impressive 38-of-63 (60.3%) shooting, including 11-of-22 (50%) beyond the arc, and 8-of-12 (66.7%) on free throws. 
 
The Panthers and Sharks were fairly even in the intangibles with NSU having a slight edge in points of turnovers (15-12), points in the paint (48-42) and second-chance points (8-5). Tech has an advantage in fast-break points (22-15).
 
Nova Southeastern jumped on the Panthers early and led 16-7 less than five minutes into the game. A jumper by Murphy would cut the margin to 25-19 with 11:28 to go in the half. The Sharks ensued on a 25-10 run and grabbed a 21-point advantage with 4:48 remaining in the first half.
 
The teams went back-and-forth the rest of the half and NSU carried a 61-41 lead into the break.
 
The Sharks increased their edge to 65-42 with 18:27 left In the second half. Not going down without a fight, the Panthers would come storming back and outscore NSU 34-19 over the next 13:43 of game time to draw within eight points, 84-76, following a terrific and-one play by Hodges. 
 
Unfortunately, some late turnovers proved costly for the Panthers as NSU regained the momentum and closed the contest on an 11-5 run to earn the season sweep over Florida Tech.
 
Mims was proud of his team's effort in the second half to climb back into the game. However, he knew the game would be much different if the Panthers were able to execute better in the first half. 
 
"We played the second half like we wanted to play the entire game," said head coach Billy Mims. "In the first half, we played the type of game they like. We got into a track meet and you cannot do that with a team that averages 102 points per game. 
 
"In the second half, we played the way we prepared to for two days. We did a great job executing our game plan. We defended really well and forced them to have to take a lot of tough shots and it resulted in us scoring more than them in the second half, 40-34." 

NSU controlled the battle for rebounds 34-24 and had assists on 26 of its 38 field goals in the contest. 

"We have got to get more rebounding out of our forwards," Mims stated. "Valur Valsson has been our leading rebounder two games in a row, and that tells you everything about our problems right now. When our shortest player is our leading rebounder that tells you why we are getting beat. Our forwards aren't rebounding and it is hurting us this part of the season.  

Florida Tech will look to close the regular season with a great result next Wednesday, Feb. 26, as the Panthers host rival Rollins College in their Senior Night game. The Crimson & Gray will honor five seniors, Phil Bernhard, Harry Craik, Derek Murphy, Antonis Pefanis and Valur Valsson, prior to the contest. Tip-off between the Panthers and Tars is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Clemente Center. 
 
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