SAINT LEO, FL. – The seventh-ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks Men’s Basketball team cruised past Saint Leo in Sunshine State Conference play, as NSU defeated the Lions 116-74 on Saturday evening from the Marion Bowman Activities Center. Shane Hunter led the way with 18 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds.
Records: No. 7 Nova Southeastern 14-2, 8-2 SSC | Saint Leo 8-9, 3-6 SSC
Score: No. 7 Nova Southeastern 116 | Saint Leo 74
Location: Marion Bowman Activities Center | Saint Leo, FL
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First Half – Back-to-back buckets from Trey Doomes and GianFranco Grafals jump-started the scoring for NSU. The Lions responded, tying the match at six but a three-pointer from Ryan Walsh gave the Sharks an early 9-6 lead. Moments later, Tommy Sala came down and converted a layup, which was followed by a three-pointer from Shane Hunterextending the Sharks lead to 8 with 16:31 remaining in the half. Towards the midway point of the half, So Allen knocked down a three-pointer to extend the lead to 20. Nova Southeastern stayed aggressive offensively, closing the half on a 14-6 run, and went into the break with a 63-37 lead.
Second Half – Grafals scored four consecutive points to kick off the second half for NSU. With 10 minutes remaining in the half, MJ Iraldi scored back-to-back buckets to add to the Sharks 10-0 run, which was capped off by a three-pointer from Mike Moore, extending NSU’s advantage to 98-54. The Sharks continued to dominate defensively, cruising to a 116-74 victory over the Saint Leo Lions.
Shane Hunter: 18 points, six rebounds, six assists, 7-11 FG
Mike Moore: 17 points, five 3PM, two steals
GianFranco Grafals: 14 points, six rebounds
Nova Southeastern forced Saint Leo to turn the ball over 31 times and outscored the Lions 38-9 off the errors.
The Sharks bench outscored Saint Leo 48-23.
No. 7 Nova Southeastern heads back home to take on Rollins in Sunshine State Conference action on Saturday, January 27th. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. To stay up-to-date on Sharks Men’s Basketball, be sure to follow on Instagram and X at NSU_MBasketball
