Charleston too much for Ospreys

Dec. 14, 2005

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The University of North Florida men's basketball team found itself outmanned and outsized against the College of Charleston on Wednesday night at Kresse Arena.

Three College of Charleston players finished with double-doubles, led by Josh Jackson's 26 points and 10 rebounds, to help the Cougars post an 85-63 win in a game that was dominated by their front line from start to finish.

Charleston (3-2) shot 49 percent and outrebounded the Ospreys 47-34. The game got away from UNF (3-3) in the first 15 minutes, when the trio of 6-foot-8 Jackson, 6-foot-7 Jermain Johnson and 6-foot-9 Philip McCandies bullied and bruised their team out to a 21-point lead, and the Ospreys never could recover.

UNF forward Rashad Williams scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Ospreys and keep them in the game despite 27 turnovers. UNF sliced what had been as much as a 22-point deficit to just 13 points with five minutes to play behind tenacious full-court pressure, but they could never get closer. A 7-0 Charleston run all but sealed the final outcome from there.

"College of Charleston has a really good team," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "They are for real. With that front line, we just couldn't get much done. I was really pleased with our effort and how we kept battling. They just beat us up all night."

UNF shot 41 percent for the game and held Charleston to just 2-of-14 shooting from 3-point range. Johnson's 11 points and 10 rebounds and McCandies' 11 points and 14 rebounds were too much to overcome. Charleston collected 23 second- chance points and scored 52 points in the paint.

Alain Laroche added 15 points, while David Ashwell scored 11, for UNF.

The Ospreys will continue their six-game road swing on Saturday when they travel to Binghamton in New York. Tipoff for that game is set for 1 p.m. The game will be aired on WIOJ-AM 1010 and via the World Wide Web at www.UNFOspreys.com.

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