University of North Florida
MERCER
Ospreys fall at Mercer
2/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2007
MACON, Ga. - The University of North Florida men's basketball team seemed to be catching Atlantic Sun Conference foe Mercer at just the right time on Sunday afternoon - with the Bears forced to play without the A-Sun's leading scorer, James Florence, who was serving a one-game suspension for fighting.
Unfortunately for the Ospreys, it proved to be the moment Mercer's Hrvoje Pervan had been waiting for.
The Bears' senior scored a season-high 25 points - hitting five of 12 shots from 3-point range - to help the Bears break open a close game late and cruise to a 69-59 win at the University Center.
UNF stayed close for most of the first 30 minutes and led 48-46 with 8:52 remaining before the wheels came off. Mercer outscored the Ospreys 19-1 over the next seven minutes to pull away and hand UNF its 15th consecutive defeat. UNF (2-25, 0-16 A-Sun) shot just 33 percent for the game and hit only six of 17 shots from 3-point range.
Mercer (13-14, 8-8 A-Sun) shot 48 percent and outrebounded UNF 43-33, including a 26-17 margin in the second half.
Chris Timberlake scored 16 points to lead the Ospreys, but he managed just two points in the second half.
"We had another one of those stretches where we couldn't finish on the offensive end," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "We got good looks, but the ball wouldn't drop. It was the same old story for our guys. We played hard but couldn't overcome our mistakes at critical times."
UNF looked strong early, racing out to an early lead and then rallying from an eight-point first-half deficit to take a 32-30 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the teams battled back and forth before UNF made one final charge to take a brief lead. A 10-2 run by the Ospreys was punctuated with Ian Gibson's layup with 8:52 to play, giving the Ospreys their final lead of the game. Shaddean Aaron answered with six consecutive points after that to start the Bears' 19-1 run and push them out to a 65-49 lead with 1:58 to play.
UNF cut its deficit to 67-59 with 43 seconds remaining but could never get closer.
Florence scored just 12 points in the first meeting between the teams in January, but he was averaging nearly 20 points per game for the Bears and scored 39 points against Jacksonville on Friday night. Following that game, the teams were involve in a postgame melee that resulted in the suspension of Florence and one player from JU. Two other Mercer players were placed on probation for the remainder of the season.
Pervan and Aaron rose to the occasion for the Bears, however, with Aaron tallying 14 points. Cortez Riley added 13 points for the Ospreys.
Sunday's game was UNF's final on the road this season. The Ospreys return home this week to close out their season, entertaining Lipscomb at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Belmont on Saturday at 4 p.m.
