University of North Florida
ETSU
Ospreys hang tough
2/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2007
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida men's basketball team went eye-to-eye with Atlantic Sun Conference leader East Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon at UNF Arena - and never blinked.
The Ospreys (2-23, 0-14 A-Sun) exploded out of the gates and led for much of the first half, and stayed within striking distance of the lead for most of the second half, before eventually falling 56- 51.
ETSU (19-8, 13-2 A-Sun) used a 10-3 run over four minutes to build its biggest lead of the game at 51-42 with 3:28 to play, but UNF rallied to pull within three points three times after that - the last with 23 seconds to play. East Tennessee State converted just two of its final six free throws from there, but UNF was unable to muster another basket in dropping its 12th straight game.
UNF's James Grimball scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season, including 13 points and nine rebounds over the final 20 minutes. Chris Timberlake added 14 points and six assists for the Ospreys.
"We did what we wanted to do," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "We contested virtually every shot they took, and we took care of rebounding the basketball. We were just a possession or two away, where balls didn't drop for us. Our guys played hard and gave themselves a chance to win. We didn't take advantage of some offensive opportunities down the stretch, and that hurt us."
Neither team shot the ball well - with UNF hitting just 34 percent and ETSU just 33 percent, including a 5- for-19 effort from 3-point range. UNF outrebounded the Bucs 40-33, but 20 turnovers by the Ospreys were costly - including 12 in the second half. Those turnovers led to 21 points for ETSU.
ETSU's Courtney Pigram led the Bucs with 12 points, despite hitting just 2-of-16 from the floor and only 2- of-10 from 3-point range. He was 6-for-10 at the free throw line.
UNF came out firing early, racing out to a 10-3 lead in the first eight minutes on the strength of two Aaron Caruthers 3-pointers. UNF led 19-14 after that, but a 6-0 run by the Bucs just before halftime gave ETSU a 20-19 lead at the intermission.
In the second half, UNF tied the game at 22 early and trailed just 41-39 with 7:59 to play after Grimball took control. ETSU slowly stretched that lead to nine points over the next three minutes, however, to set up the hectic finish.
UNF returns to action on Thursday when it travels to DeLand to face Stetson in Atlantic Sun Conference play. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
