University of North Florida
NORTHWESTERN
UNF drops heartbreaker
at Northwestern
11/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. - The University of North Florida men's basketball team put a scare into Big Ten foe Northwestern on Saturday afternoon, leading for the majority of the second half and by a point with 15 seconds to play.
Only a putback basket by Northwestern's Kevin Coble with 3.2 seconds remaining saved the day for the Wildcats in a 40-39 win at Welsh-Ryan Arena, helping them cap a rally from seven points down.
UNF (1-5) put forth its most impressive effort of the season in pushing Northwestern (3-2) to the brink of an upset. The Ospreys shut down the Wildcats' vaunted Princeton offense and forced them to try to hit from outside. That plan worked, with Northwestern connecting on only 4-of-25 shots from 3-point range.
On the other end, the Ospreys recovered from a sluggish offensive starts to start the second half and built a 38-31 lead with 6:16 remaining. They simply couldn't hold on from there.
UNF missed its final 13 shots- and was outscored 9-1 to the finish - in dropping its 21st consecutive road game. Saturday's matchup was UNF's first against a Big Ten opponent.
"Our guys played their hearts out," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "We missed some big shots late that could have won the game, and we had our chances. It hurts for our guys now, but they came out with a mindset to win and as a coach you can't ask for any more than that. We just needed one shot to fall."
Aaron Caruthers and Chris Timberlake each scored 10 points to lead UNF, which shot 31 percent for the game. The Ospreys outrebounded the Wildcats, 40-34.
UNF was up 20-16 late in the opening half and was looking for more before a steal and a 3- pointer from Craig Moore as time expired sliced into that margin, making the UNF cushion just 20-19 at intermission.
In the second half, the Ospreys started slow - failing to score for the first three minutes before finally kicking their offensive into gear. The teams battled back and forth, with Northwestern regaining the lead 31-30 with 11:19 to play on a free throw by Tim Doyle.
From there, UNF put together an 8-0 run over the next five minutes to take control of the game. Caruthers scored six points during that stretch, and Timberlake capped the run with a 3-foot jumper with 6:16 remaining.
Northwestern's Jeremy Nash tied the game at 38 on a jumper with 3:30 remaining, and neither team did much after that. Caruthers missed the second of a pair of free throws with 23 seconds to go that would have given UNF a two-point cushion. The Wildcats grabbed the rebound, however, and called timeout with 15 seconds to play.
That set up the finish, when Coble rebounded a 3-point miss by Moore from the corner and put it back to give the Wildcats the lead. UNF couldn't get off a shot in the final seconds.
Northwestern shot just 34 percent for the game. Doyle led the Wildcats with eight points, while Jeff Ryan added seven.
Gallo Cham had 10 rebounds for the Ospreys.
UNF will open its conference season next week with a trip to Nashville, Tenn., where it will face defending league co-champions Belmont and Lipscomp on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
