BOCA RATON â€" Florida Southern’s Tim Crouch and Nova Southeastern’s Bobby Bode helped get their teams off to a strong start Monday at the Sunshine State Conference Tournament, but it was another Nova player, Ricardo Celia, who had the Sharks in first place at the end of the day. With Celia shooting a five-under par 67 in round two, Nova had a one-stroke lead over Barry, with the Moccasins in sixth going into Tuesday’s final round.

Celia had six birdies and only one bogey in the round, and was as low as -6 with two holes remaining. Combined with his 72 in the first round, the freshman was at five-under par 139 for the tournament, two strokes ahead of Barry’s Daniel Stapff, and four strokes ahead of three other golfers who were tied for third.

Celia and Stapff were neck-and-neck throughout the day, with Stapff shooting a 68 in the second round. The one-stroke difference between the two golfers in both rounds though, proved to be the difference in the team scores as well, with the Sharks carding a one-over par 577, and the Bucs checking in with a 578.

Barry finished its second round with both Stapff (68) and Marcus Segerstrom (71) under par, and Marcelo Huarte (72) at even par. That helped give the Buccaneers a team score of 285, but it wasn’t the best score of the round. That went to Florida Tech, which had a 283, moving the Panthers up from seventh place to third, where they trailed Nova by eight strokes. All four of Florida Tech’s counters in round two were at 72 or better, with both Zach Potter and Colin Flabbi shooting 70’s.

Crouch and Bode shared the first-round lead as each shot a two-under par 70. Crouch had five birdies en route to matching his best round of the season, and was four strokes better than Florida Southern’s next two golfers, Jude Eustaquio and Shane Convery. The Moccasins, however, had to count a 79 by Shelton Smith, while Nova threw out a 78, Barry threw out a 75, and Lynn threw out a 76 in the opening round.

Bode also had five birdies in his opening round for Nova, while Celia and Ben Vertz each shot a 72 to help the Sharks take a 2-stroke lead over Lynn, and three stroke leads over Barry and Saint Leo. Florida Southern was in fifth place with a team score of 297, but only seven strokes out of first at the end of round one.

Crouch followed his 70 with a 77 in the afternoon, but was still the Moccasins’ best golfer at the end of the day. His three-over par 147 put him in a tie for ninth, and it was two strokes ahead of Eustaquio and Convery, who each had a 75 in round two and were tied for 16th with a total score of five-over par 149. Smith was tied for 34th with a 152, and had the team's best second round with a one-over par 73, and Peter Creighton was 44th with a 162.

Those totals gave the Moccasins a two-round score of 597, which was 20 shots behind front-running Nova Southeastern, 19 behind 2nd-place Barry, and 12 behind 3rd-place Florida Tech. Lynn (586) and Saint Leo (592) were just ahead of the Moccasins, with Eckerd, Rollins and Tampa just behind them.

The final round of the SSC Championships begins Tuesday morning at 8:00 at the Boca Country Club.