MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry University men's basketball team swept the regular season series from rival Nova Southeastern, beating the Sharks, 105-83, Saturday in front of 1,040 fans in a game that aired on ESPN3. 

Bucs senior forward Sunday Dech scored a career-high 32 points, tying the school record with 10 three-point field goals. Barry went 20 of 37 from long distance in a dynamite shooting display.

"The pace was great today," said Dech, a first-year Buccaneer from Perth, Australia. "Both teams like to play fast. I think with our shooting ability, we can always spread the floor, so going up and down is no issue for us."



The victory was Barry's fourth in a row, and it snapped the Sharks' five-game win streak. It also kept the Buccaneers on top of the Sunshine State Conference standings with two games remaining.

"Nova seems to bring out the best in us," Bucs head coach Butch Estes said. "We have truly played, I think I'm safe in saying, our two best performances of the year against Nova." 
 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Barry 105, Nova Southeastern 83
Records: Barry (17-6, 13-5 SSC), Nova Southeastern (17-7, 11-7 SSC)
All-Time Series: Barry leads, 41-19
 

• The Buccaneers never trailed in the game, opening up a 20-7 lead on Elvar Fridriksson's layup 5:36 after the tip. The Sharks cut it to 10 with 6:50 remaining in the opening half on David Dennis' bucket in the paint. But Dech hit back-to-back threes in a 57-second span to push the lead out to 15 with just under 5:00 remaining before the break.
• Barry went 9 of 18 from beyond the 3-point arc in the first half. Nova Southeastern was 2 of 9.
• Dech buried a triple 2:57 into the second half as the Buccaneers' lead mushroomed to 25. NSU cut it to 16 at the 11:57 mark when Pat Huffine scored in the paint, but Sawyer Glick canned one of his four second half triples with 9:58 remaining to extend the lead back to 23. The Sharks got within 14 on Dwayne Gibson's layup with 5:35 to go, but Dech drilled three straight threes, and Glick hit another to put Barry up, 101-77, in the runaway win.
• Four Barry starters scored in double figures. Glick had 20 of his 25 points in the second half. Fridriksson scored 17 points, and had seven assists. Evan Walshe had 10 points and five rebounds.
• Daniel Mortensen grabbed a career-high 13 boards.
• Malik Hardy finished with 24 points and eight rebounds for the Sharks. Dennis had 15 points, five boards, four assists and four steals.
• Barry shot 55 percent from the field and 54 percent from three-point range. Nova Southeastern shot 43 percent overall, and 31 percent from beyond the arc.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Barry reached 100 points in both games against the Sharks this season. The Bucs won the first meeting, 100-73, on Dec. 30.
• The Bucs have scored 100 points or more in eight games this season. The school record is nine, set in 2015-16.
• Dech became the fourth player in school history to hit 10 three-pointers in a game. He is the second one to do so this season after Glick buried 10 against Rollins on Dec. 2. Yunio Barrueta (Jan. 2, 2016 vs. Rollins) and Jason Junker (Nov. 19, 2000 vs. Nova Southeastern) are the others.
• Barry shot 50 percent or better from the field for the fourth straight game. The Bucs hit over 50 percent of their triple tries for the second straight game and fifth time this season.
• It was the third time this season the Buccaneers have buried at least 20 threes. Barry ranked third in the nation in triples per game coming into Saturday. 
• Walshe scored in double figures for the second straight game.
• Dech became the sixth Barry player this season to score over 30 points in a game.
• The Bucs improved to 11-0 when shooting 50 percent or better.
• Barry moved to 4-0 when four starters score in double figures.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"It feels good. I've been in a bit of a slump lately, and Coach is saying, 'Keep shooting, keep shooting the ball.' I think all those hours in the gym are finally paying off."
            -- Sunday Dech on tying the school record with 10 three-pointers

ON THE HORIZON:

Barry will play at Lynn 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

DECH PRESS CONFERENCE
ESTES PRESS CONFERENCE