FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Saint Leo men's basketball was unable to survive a Nova Southeastern Sharks second half surge that forced the game to overtime. In overtime, the Sharks used a 12-4 period to go on for the 77-69 win inside the Rick Case Arena Saturday. DeAndre King led the team in scoring with 17 points on the night where Isaiah Hill and Daniel Duarte joined him in double-figures. 
 
Isaiah Hill finished the night second in scoring with 15 points where he was one rebound shy of a double-double, ending with nine. Hill added six assists and one steal to his stat line. Daniel Duarte notched 11 points on the day going 3-for-5 from downtown.

"We are proud of our guys, they fought for 40 minutes," Head Coach Vince Alexander mentioned following the game. "But 40 minutes of the 45 minutes we played, and our lack of experience put us in a situation
that we should not have been in."
 
Saint Leo led for 35:18 of the contest where the Sharks erased any deficit in the second half and controlled the overtime period. The Lions shot 87.5-percent from the free throw line going 14-for-16 on the night.

Alexander went on to add, "We made some good shots and fought hard. We will continue to work hard and prepare for our next game. We will learn from this and use it as experience to move forward."

The Basics
Final Score: Nova Southeastern 77, Saint Leo 69
Location: Rick Case Arena | Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Records: Saint Leo 8-12, 4-5 SSC | Nova Southeastern 11-4, 5-4 SSC
 
How It Happened…
1H | Saint Leo came out hot as the Green and Gold took an early four-point lead, 6-2, at the first media-timeout with 15:54 to play. The Lions continued to extend its lead going up 13-6 off a Daniel Duarte three-pointer. Another Daniel Duarte three allowed for the Lions to take a 14-point lead, 22-8 into a timeout with 8:14 to play. The Green and Gold continued to stay out infront by double-digits as the first half reached its final media timeout with 2:55; Saint Leo 30-17. The Sharks would use a 4-0 run to close within nine points, 30-21 and to eight points, 34-26 with 45-seconds left in the front half, where the Lions would head into the break up by eight. | Saint Leo 36-28 |
 
2H | Out of the break, the Lions pushed their lead to 10, 41-31, within two minutes of action off a Junior Searcy dunk. The Sharks would erase the deficit and cut it to single digits before making it a four-point game, 43-39, with 15:58 to play in the second half. Saint Leo went into the 11:55 media timeout with a five-point lead before Isaiah Hill knocked down two free throws to make it seven, 49-42. Nova Southeastern used two huge three-pointers to make the game a one-point game, 51-50, with 10 minutes to play. The Sharks took their first lead of the game off a David Dennis layup with 8:54 to play, 52-51. Saint Leo recaptured the lead with four quick points from Junior Searcy and Isaiah Hill, on drives kept alive by Malik Fuller's offensive rebounds, heading to the 6:45 media timeout up 55-52. Both teams would take turns holding the lead before two DeAndre King three's and three free throws from Pape Ngom (one) and Kyran McClure (two) made it a 64-60 game with 1:33 to play. Trailing by three with 15-seconds to go, Nova Southeastern's Issac White hit a corner three to tie things at 65-65. Isaiah Hill saw his last second jumper roll out to end regulation tied. | Tied 65-65 |
 
OT | After gaining momentum heading into overtime, the Sharks used every ounce of it and controlled overtime, outscoring the Lions 12-4. Isaiah Hill scored all four points for the Lions with two baseline jumpers. | Nova Southeastern 77-69 |
 
 
Points to Note

• Saint Leo falls to 8-12 after the eight-point loss. The Lions have now dropped four straight.
• DeAndre King led the Lions in scoring with 17 points with a 5-for-17 night from the field including 5-for-12 from downtown.
• Isaiah Hill was close behind with 15 points where he turned in nine rebounds and hauled in six assists on the night. Hill finished the night with a 5-for-14 mark from the field and a 5-for-6 mark from the charity stripe.
• The Green and Gold corrected its free throw issue, missing just two on the night, going 14-for-16.
• From the field, Saint Leo shot 35.9-percent (23-64) after a 40.6-percent (8-24) first half.

 
For Nova Southeastern

• The Sharks snapped their losing skid with a 77-69 win, moving to 11-4, 5-4 in SSC play.
• David Dennis paced the squad with 26 points, including a majority of the points in the Sharks' comeback in the second half. Dennis finished 10-for-19 from the field and 5-for-8 from the free throw line.
• Dwayne Gibson added 14 points while Nick Stampley added 13.
• Nova Southeastern turned things around in the second half after shooting 37-percent (10-27) from the field in the first half to a 40.6-percent (13-32) to finish at 39.7-percent (27-68).

 
Next Up
Saint Leo returns home to host Eckerd on January 17 at 7:30 p.m. inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center.
 
For the latest news, updates, and information on the Saint Leo men's basketball, be sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.