University of North Florida
Clayton State
UNF men lose Peach Belt opener to Clayton College & State
2/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Jan. 5, 2005) - The University of North Florida men's basketball team proved to be its own worst enemy on Wednesday night in its Peach Belt Conference opener against Clayton College & State.
After controlling the first 30 minutes of the game with stifling defense and torrid shooting, the Ospreys faltered down the stretch in losing 55-50 to the Lakers at UNF Arena.
Donny Lotz scored 14 points to lead UNF (5-10, 0-1 PBC), which shot 39.5 percent for the game (17-of- 43) but committed 20 turnovers. Craig Butts scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half to lead the Lakers (8-7, 1-0 PBC), who hit 20-of-26 free throws to keep themselves in the game despite shooting just 27 percent in the first half.
"I thought it was a heck of a conference game," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "Both teams played great defense. The bottom line was that in crunch time Clayton State made the plays and we didn't."
UNF raced out to a 17-7 lead in the first nine minutes by hitting its first five 3-pointers and led 24-23 at halftime.
In the second half, the Ospreys led 40-29 lead with 14:17 remaining but went cold from there. UNF hit just three of 13 shots the rest of the way as Clayton State slowly battled back behind the inside presence of Butts.
A 3-pointer by Michael Sloan tied the game at 42 with 7:06 to play, and the Lakers took a 44-42 lead on their next possession on free throws by Rashad Williams. A Lotz layup with 2:59 left gave UNF a brief 50-49 lead, but the Lakers answered on their next possession to take the lead for good.
Clayton State shot 48 percent in the second half to finish at 38 percent for the game and outrebounded UNF, 31-29.
Derrick Scott added 10 points for the Ospreys, while B.J. Puckett was the only other player in double figures for Clayton State with 10 points.
UNF returns to Peach Belt play on Saturday when it travels to Spartanburg, S.C., to face USC Upstate. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. The game can be heard locally on WIOJ-AM 1010 and via the Internet at www.unf.edu/sports.
