Fort Lauderdale, FL  |  The College of Staten Island Men's Basketballl Team tipped off the 2019-2020 season this afternoon against #2-ranked Nova Southeastern University and were faced with relentless defensive pressure and stellar shooting from the Sharks in a 130-62 defeat.  CSI opens the season 0-1 with the loss while the Sharks are 1-0 following the win in what was also their season-opener.

The Dolphins faced a stifling full-court press throughout the entirety of the first half which did not allow them to get set into their half-court offense, and in many cases, did not allow them to inbound the ball.  The Sharks jumped ahead 2-0 only four seconds in and would go on to score the first seven points of the game through the first minute and three seconds.  It was an Adeola Latunji layup that would put CSI on the board for the first time and spurred a 9-8 Dolphins which made the score 15-9 in favor of NSU.

However, that Sharks seized control of the game from this point forward and never looked back as they went on a 19-0 run over the next six minutes to take a commanding 34-9 lead.  It was Austin Mick that finally ended the CSI scoring drought with just inside of nine minutes to play in the half, but the Sharks continued to harass CSI into committing turnovers that resulted in easy baskets.  As a result, a twenty-five point deficit with 8:06 to play in the first half grew to fifty at the intermission.

The second half saw the Sharks relent on their full-court pressure which allowed the Dolphins to play to a +3 scoring margin through the first 12 minutes of the second half.  Along the way, CSI got seven points from Andrew Kartalis and would ultimately go on to win the turnover battle in the second half as well.  Despite this, the Dolphins would not get any closer than 100-53 as the Sharks regained control the remainder of the way.

It was a 30-9 Sharks advantage over the final eight minutes of the game due in large part to the massive disparity in shooting percentage between the two sides.  CSI shot 13-35 in the second half while NSU hit on 21 of their 37 shot attempts.  They also dominated CSI on the boards in half number two grabbing 29 to CSI's 13.  All of this combined with swarming defense to earn the Sharks a dominant 130-62 victory.

For the Dolphins, Latunji led the team in scoring with 12 on 5-10 from the field and Kartalis added 10 on 4-8 including a pair of three-pointers.  Joseph Zieris had nine points, four coming from the line where he was 4-4.  For the Sharks, seven different players scored in double-figures with Lukas Speidel and Mark Matthews atop the list with 26 and 24 points respectively.  The Dolphins' 30 turnovers, most coming in the first half, allowed the Sharks to pull away early behind tremendous shooting.  NSU hit 50-78 from the field for the game while the Dolphins shot 21-61.

CSI will have very little time to rest following today's game as they will be right back on the court tomorrow against Barry University at 1 PM.  That matchup with the Buccaneers will conclude their two-game Florida trip and the team will head home tomorrow night ahead of this weekend's meeting with SNHU.