UNF remains winless at ETSU

Monday, January 5

Johnson City, Tenn.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

East Tennessee State

Kyle Groothuis was 5-of-8 from the field at ETSU.

1/5/2009 9:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Groothuis leads squad with 11 points, seven rebounds

By: Shawn LaFata

Box Score

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – University of North Florida sophomore Kyle Groothuis tied a season-high with 11 points to lead the Ospreys at East Tennessee State but it wasn't enough to cool off the Buccaneers in an 88-57 loss at the Memorial Center.

ETSU (10-4, 4-0 A-Sun) shot 52 percent from the field in the win and had four players in double figures, led by Courtney Pigram, who scored a game-high 24 points. Pigram knocked down five shots beyond the 3-point arc and nine overall to give the Bucs their sixth-straight win against UNF (2-12, 0-4 A-Sun).

"You try to defend Pigram as best as possible but he has such a quick release," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "You can't give him an inch and we gave him an inch and a half. They are a spurt team and I thought we got a little too quick against their pressure. "

Matt Sauey, Cameron Lovelace and Germaine Sparkes each scored eight points for the Ospreys with Sauey and Sparkes pulling down five rebounds and Lovelace knocking down a pair of 3-pointers.

Lovelace had two of UNF's four long-range shots on the night but that wasn't enough to overcome an ETSU squad that hit 11 overall from beyond the 3-point arc. Lovelace has now hit a 3-pointer in his last five contests.

The Ospreys trailed 43-17 at the half, shooting only 27.6 percent from the field compared to a Buccaneer squad that hit 60 percent of its shots from the field. Both Pigram (14) and Kevin Tiggs (11) finished the half in double digits for the Bucs, while Sauey led the Ospreys with six points.

UNF hit one of its first eight shots in the contest and found itself in an early 10-2 hole. A Lovelace 3-pointer followed by a Sauey rebound and layup cut the lead to five points before ETSU went back up by 10 when Tiggs finished off a fastbreak with a lob pass that he stuffed home.

ETSU began to heat up from there and finished the half with six 3-pointers. Pigram hit three of those long range shots, while on the defensive end the Bucs blocked seven shots. Greg Hamlin collected four of those blocks for ETSU. Lovelace hit UNF's lone 3-pointer of the half.

Cortez Riley did his best to rally the squad in the second half, scoring all seven of his points in the frame. Riley was 1-of-4 beyond the 3-point arc and 3-of-10 from the field overall.

ETSU won the rebounding battle 45-31 with Groothuis pulling down a game-high seven boards. Seth Coy and Mike Smith led the Buccaneers with six rebounds.

UNF is back in action on Friday night at 7 p.m. when Kennesaw State comes to town.

"We have learned a lot of lessons on the road this year and now we need to come back and defend our home court this weekend," Kilcullen said.