MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry University coach Butch Estes won his 500^th career game as the No. 23 Buccaneers held on to beat Nova Southeastern, 89-86, Wednesday night.

"I had no idea," Estes said. "No idea. Because I've been at so many schools I lost count keeping track."

Estes, who has coached for 33 years, is 56-17 in his third year at Barry.

"I'm just very excited for him," Barry senior swingman Yunio Barrueta said. "He's been coaching for 33 years. I didn't even know that. He got his 500th win here at Barry, and I'm glad he did it my senior year. Hopefully he gets a lot more."
 
The Buccaneers (12-2, 5-1 Sunshine State Conference) led by as many as 15, but Nova took a late lead on Troy Spears' 3-pointer with 1:09 to play. Undra Mitchem buried a triple for the Bucs with 36 seconds to play, and Anders Haas sank two free throws to put Barry up, 87-83. Dwayne Gibson hit a 3 for the Sharks (5-8, 1-4) with 2.9 seconds left to make it a one-point game. Elvar Fridriksson sank two free throws to seal it for Barry.

Barrueta finished with 25 points and five rebounds. He became the school's all-time leader in defensive rebounds, surpassing Nick Ellingsworth-Perez. Haas had 15 points, and Tray Leonard 10 points, five boards, two blocks and three steals. Spears and Chris Page each had 20 for the Sharks. 

The Bucs led 67-53 with 11:53 to play when Arie Williams buried a jumper on a feed from Marko Tomic. But the Sharks went on a 12-2 run to cut the lead to four with 8:27 remaining. Haas hit a three-pointer on the next trip down the floor to push Barry's lead back to seven, but Nova's Mike Chalas answered with a triple 17 seconds later to keep it a two-possession game. After Adrian Gonzalez, who finished with 16 points, scored in the paint to put the Bucs up six, Nova's Dwayne Gibson canned a 3-pointer to cut it to 74-71 with 5:57 left.

Gonzalez scored at the 3:35 mark to bump Barry's lead back to seven, but Spears answered with a 3, and Gibson scored after a Bucs missed opportunity to cut the gap to two with 2:34 on the clock. Mitchem hit a jumper, but the Sharks responded again when Harrison Goodrick, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds, scored to cut Barry's lead to 82-80. 

Barry had 16 steals, including three each by Williams, Gonzalez and Leonard.

Nova shot 61.8 percent from the field, going 34 of 55. Barry was 30 of 67 for 44.8 percent. The Bucs were 9 of 32 from long range. The Sharks hit 11 of 20 threes.

Estes has coached at Presbyterian, Furman, Guilford, Miami-Dade, Shoreline Community College and Palm Beach State in his head coaching career, which began in 1980. He won 135 games at Furman. He also collected his 300th career victory at four-year schools while coaching at Barry.

"It's a, first of all, tremendous compliment to all the coaches I've had through the years," Estes said. "So many of them have gone on, many of them are DI now, and people that have supported us ... I owe them a lot, and most importantly, the players through the years. Eventually I worked my way back to being at Barry, and having these young men that we have here and their sacrifices, I mean, it's just been a lot of fun. 

"It's a labor of love. I wouldn't be doing it at my age this long if I didn't love it."

YUNIO BARRUETA POST-GAME COMMENTS