University of North Florida
North Greenville
Ospreys open with 77-62 win
11/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida men's basketball team opened its 2005-06 season and the school's Division I era on Tuesday night with a win that looked easy on paper.
Too often statistics can be misleading.
The Ospreys (1-0) shot 51 percent for the game and got 21 points from senior forward Alain Laroche in his UNF debut to outman and outmuscle a scrappy North Greenville squad 77-62 at UNF Arena. In the process, the Ospreys gave head coach Matt Kilcullen the 200th win in his head coaching career.
The victory didn't come easy. UNF overcame a 21-10 first-half deficit with a 30-12 run to end the half and then finally put the pesky Crusaders (1-3) away in the final five minutes with another big run fueled by the Ospreys' full-court press.
"You have to give credit to North Greenville," Kilcullen said. "They ran their motion offense to a tee and really gave us fits at times. Our defensive pressure was the difference. We did a really nice job of being active."
Laroche transferred to UNF after earning first-team NAIA All-America honors at York (Neb.) College in 2003-04 and was forced to sit out the 2004-05 season under NCAA transfer rules. In UNF's only exhibition game - against Edward Waters on Nov. 12 - he played just nine minutes due to foul trouble. On Tuesday, however, he made up for lost time, hitting 10-of-16 field goal attempts, grabbing nine rebounds and tallying two steals to fuel the win.
Senior Derrick Scott added 13 points, while Chris Timberlake and Carl McNally had 11 points each. UNF led 40-33 at halftime but couldn't shake North Greenville until late in the game. After Victor Duck's 3-pointer sliced UNF's lead to 58-52 with 9:48 to play, UNF put together a 14-3 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 72-55. The Ospreys matched that advantage three times before settling for the final margin.
Strong 3-point shooting kept the Crusaders in the game despite 24 turnovers. North Greenville shot 49 percent for the game and 39 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (10-of-26). Junior guard P.J. Schumacher did most of the damage for the Crusaders, hitting five 3-pointers to finish with 20 points. Duck and Josh Burgess each added 13 points for North Greenville.
Kilcullen's career record as a head coach is now 200- 237 in his 17th season.
The Ospreys will return to action on Saturday at home against Concordia College at 1 p.m. before stepping into conference play next week at Florida Atlantic and Jacksonville. Saturday's game can be heard on WIOJ-AM 1010.
