University of North Florida
BELMONT
Ospreys fall in A-Sun opener
12/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2006
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The University of North Florida men's basketball team has yet to find its shooting touch at Belmont University, falling for the second-straight year to Belmont on its home court after an 87-32 defeat at the Curb Event Center.
Belmont (4-2, 0-1 A-Sun) held UNF (1-6, 0-1 A-Sun) scoreless for more than seven minutes to begin the second half, putting together a 16-0 run to up a 45-18 lead to 61-18. Belmont never looked back from there. The Ospreys scored only 14 points in the second half in their lowest offensive output in school history.
"They are the No. 1 team in the conference and played like it tonight," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "They have depth and force you to do a lot of things you don't want to do. We need to have confidence and believe we are going to make shots."
The Ospreys shot 29 percent from the field for the game and did not have a player in double figures. Germaine Sparks led the Ospreys, scoring seven points, six of which came on a pair of 3-pointers. James Grimball also scored seven points, while Rashad Williams and Ian Gibson each scored six.
Six different Bruins scored at least nine points, led by Justin Hare's 14. Keaton Belcher scored 13 off the bench, while Matthew Dotson rounded out the double-figure scoring for the Bruins with 12 points.
Belmont began the game on an 11-7 run, then took advantage of a foul by Rashad Williams, upping the lead to 14-7 on a Dotson 3-pointer. The Bruins outscored UNF 34-11 the rest of the half to take a 45-18 lead into the locker room.
"We all have games like this, you just cross it off, come back and have a good practice tomorrow," Kilcullen said.
The Bruins outrebounded UNF 46-28, while the Ospreys turned the ball over 18 times compared to 12 turnovers for Belmont.
Belcher led all players with eight rebounds, while Gallo Cham collected six to lead the Ospreys. Ian Gibson finished the game with three steals for UNF.
UNF continues its two-game road swing through Nashville on Saturday when it travels across town to take on Lipscomb at 5 p.m. EST.
