Strong Hurricanes blow by Ospreys

Wednesday, December 31

Coral Gables, Fla.

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

Miami

Junior Stan Januska had a team-high nine points and four rebounds

12/31/2008 6:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

UNF shot .273 percent from the field

By: Adam Jonson, UNF Athletics

Box Score

MIAMI, Fla. – The University of North Florida men's basketball team simply did not have an answer for the powerful University of Miami on Wednesday, and the Hurricanes snagged 23 offensive rebounds and sank 32 free throws to send the Ospreys away with a 94-41 New Year's Eve loss.

"It was a physical game and they were stronger than us," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "We talked about boxing out on the glass, but that simply doesn't do the job when you are going up against 6-foot-9 guys who jump over you."

UNF (2-10, 0-2 Atlantic Sun) grabbed only 17 rebounds in the contest compared to 53 by Miami (9-3). Julian Gamble spearheaded the Canes' rebounding prowess, finishing with 13. Cyrus McGowan matched Gamble's offensive rebounding total of five and finished with 10 total of his own. The two posted a pair of double-doubles with McGowan scoring a game-high 17 (tied with Miami's Jack McClinton) and Gamble adding 13.

Junior Stan Januska led the Ospreys with nine points and four rebounds. Ten UNF players netted at least one point with freshman Matt Sauey notching seven and senior Cortez Riley, juniors Germaine Sparkes and Eni Cuka and freshman Zack Riggins each chipping in four.

"I give credit to Miami," Kilcullen said. "They are a talented ACC basketball team and they took it to us in every phase."

The Canes held UNF scoreless through more than seven minutes of the game, building a 9-0 lead. Freshman Cameron Lovelace's only bucket of the game was the first for the Ospreys. With 13:57 remaining in the first half, he drained a jumper from long range to cut the Miami lead to 9-3.

The home team jumped to a 13-point lead less than three minutes later, but a 3-pointer by Januska and a strong move and basket in the paint by Riggins helped slice that edge to 21-12 with a little more than eight minutes remaining in the opening half.

With less than three minutes remaining until the half, Miami built its biggest lead of the game up to that point. The 18-point edge was reduced twice by the Ospreys in the first half's final minutes before the Canes sported a 38-20 lead at the break.

"We came out in the second half and played aggressively, took the ball strong to the hole and got to the free throw line," Kilcullen said. "But we have to learn to play smarter in many of the situations we were faced with today."

Januska went to the charity stripe to attempt a pair of free throws only 25 seconds into the second half. The attempts were only UNF's third and fourth of the game (Januska connected on a pair in the first half). To combat the Ospreys' heightened intensity on the offensive end, McClinton nailed three jumpers from 3-point land in the first eight minutes and change of the second half to fuel the Canes' attack and help Miami mount a 29-point lead with 11:56 on the clock.

Miami shot .762 percent from the free-throw line for the game, including .913 percent in the second half. The Canes' attempted a total of 42 free ones, connecting on 32. UNF went to the line 22 times and knocked down 14.

"Much of their ability to get to the free throw line came from their strength and physicality and the fact that we tried to make up for that by reaching and grabbing," Kilcullen said.

UNF shot .348 percent from the floor in the first half (8-for-23), and saw many good looks go in and out. In the second half, the Ospreys were held to only four field goals (4-for21) by a much tighter Cane defense. Miami went 12-for-29 from the field in the first half and 15-for-28 in the final half. UNF committed 15 turnovers while the Canes turned the ball over 12 times.

The loss marks the second in a row for the Ospreys, who had won two straight before suffering a home loss to IPFW three days ago. With a new year on the horizon, the UNF hoop squad will try to put its rough 2008 non-conference schedule behind and look for better results in the A-Sun in 2009.

"All of our non-conference games are out of the way and we have 18 A-Sun games to finish the season," Kilcullen said. "We've played some tough opponents this season, but chalk it up all as experience. Now it's time to get back to work in the gym and get ready for some conference basketball."

The Ospreys resume their league slate on Saturday, Jan. 3, at USC Upstate at 4 p.m. before traveling to East Tennessee State on Monday, Jan. 5, for a 4:45 p.m. tip.