University of North Florida
UCF
Ospreys fall at UCF, 69-57
12/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. - North Florida's Alain Laroche scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half against UCF in the opening round of the UCF Holiday Classic on Thursday night, but it wasn't enough to help the Ospreys overcome a 17-point halftime deficit in losing 69-57 to the host Golden Knights.
UNF (3-5) shot 49 percent for the game but committed 25 turnovers, which led to 29 points for UCF (6-4), in losing their third straight game. The Golden Knights shot 44 percent but struggled in the second half, hitting just 29 percent from the floor.
That allowed UNF to slice into its 39-22 halftime deficit and pull to within seven points at 49-42 with seven minutes remaining. A 7-0 run by the Golden Knights put things out of reach at that point.
"I was proud of our effort in the second half," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "If we play like that for 40 minutes, we probably win the game. We didn't protect the basketball as well as we should have. We need to move on quickly, because we get back at it again tomorrow."
UNF led the game 15-13 with nine minutes to play in the first half, but UCF exploded from there - outscoring the Ospreys 26-7 the rest of the way to pull out to is sizable halftime lead.
Justin Rose led UCF with 19 points, while Josh Peppers and Anthony Williams each added 15. Chris Timberlake added 13 points and Derrick Scott 10 points for the Ospreys.
UNF will face Western Illinois on Friday in the tournament championship game at 6 p.m. The Leathernecks (3-6) lost 67-54 to Birmingham- Southern in Thursday's tournament opener.
