University of North Florida
Florida Atlantic
UNF rally falls short against FAU
12/18/2007 10:34:40 PM | Men's Basketball
Ospreys battle back from 14-point second-half deficit
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The University of North Florida men's basketball team slugged its way to a pair of late ties against Sun Belt Conference foe Florida Atlantic on Tuesday night in non-conference action at FAU Arena. In the end, UNF ran out of punches in falling to the Owls 70-64.
UNF got 23 points from Tom Hammonds, and Cortez Riley fueled the Ospreys' second-half rally with seven of his nine points over the final 20 minutes as UNF erased a 14-point deficit to tie the game twice in the final four minutes. The Ospreys (1-8) had possessions with the game tied at 58 and 60 and also had the ball down 66-64 with 39 seconds to play. A turnover ended that threat, however, and allowed the Owls (3-7) to ice the game at the free throw line.
The Ospreys shot 43 percent for the game, while FAU shot 47 percent and hit 7-of-12 shots from 3-point range. The Owls outrebounded UNF, 35-29.
"You are never pleased with a loss, but our guys are definitely showing improvement," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "We made some nice plays to get ourselves back into the game, and we had chances late to take the lead. We just didn't finish the job. But I was happy with our effort, our energy and how hard the guys played together in a tough environment and against a tough team."
FAU's Carlos Monroe led all scorers with 25 points, while Carderro Nwoji added 17 points to go along with five assists and three steals. Nwoji hit five of six shots from 3-point range to help the Owls stretch out to their big lead in the second half.
UNF used an 11-2 run in the opening half to take a 23- 20 lead with five minutes to play before halftime. That fortune didn't last long, with FAU's Sean Alarcon draining a 3-pointer to tie the game on the Owls' next possession, starting an 11-0 run. FAU led 34-28 at the intermission.
In the second half, FAU stretched that advantage to 53- 39 with 11 minutes to play and appeared poised to blow the Ospreys out. Riley fueled another UNF run at that point -- hitting three key buckets as the Ospreys outscored FAU 19-5 over the next six minutes to eventually tie the game at 58 with 5:27 to play.
Justin Cecil and James Grimball each added 10 points for UNF. Senior Chris Timberlake also hit a 3-pointer in the second half to tie the UNF school record for career 3-pointers made.
The Ospreys will close out their pre-Christmas schedule with a game at 22nd-ranked Miami (AP and ESPN/USA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Coral Gables. The game will be aired in Jacksonville on WBOB-AM 1320, with air time at 7:15 p.m.
