Cuka scores 27 in UNF win

Thursday, February 19

UNF Arena

7:45 p.m.

University of North Florida

7-20, 5-12ASun

Florida Gulf Coast

11-19, 7-12ASun

FGCU

North Florida

Eni Cuka knocked down a career-high five 3-pointers.

2/19/2009 10:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Ospreys set new Division I mark for wins

By: Shawn LaFata

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida men's basketball team set a new standard for victories on the NCAA Division I level thanks to a 27-point performance by junior guard Eni Cuka that helped lead the Ospreys to a 69-59 win against Florida Gulf Coast at UNF Arena.

The win improved the Ospreys to 7-20 overall and 5-12 in Atlantic Sun Conference play. The seven wins are the most for the team since they won six during the 2005-06 season, the first for the team on the Division I level.

Cuka hit a career-high five 3-pointers in the victory to lead a pack of three Ospreys in double figures.

"This was a good team victory for us," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "The guys did a tremendous job finding Eni and Germaine Sparkes played great defense tonight. Our offense matched our defense. For the last three weeks our defense has been pretty good but our offense finally caught up to the defense."

UNF limited Florida Gulf Coast (11-19, 7-12 A-Sun) to 38.5 percent shooting from the field and held the fifth-best 3-point shooting team in the conference to a 1-for-10 performance beyond the 3-point arc.

The Ospreys watched an 11-point halftime lead slip away and turn into a six-point loss in the first meeting with FGCU this year. That wasn't going to be the case Thursday after the Ospreys weathered a late first half rally by the Eagles and took the game over when the second half started, leading by as many as 19 points.

UNF held an 11-point lead with 5:42 to play in the first half and looked to be in good shape after a Cortez Riley jumper put the Ospreys up 35-25 with 52 seconds to play in the half. The Eagles, however, scored the last six points of the half with the final two coming on a Delvin Franklin steal and layup in the final seconds of the frame.

Stan Januska – who finished the night with 15 points for UNF – got the Ospreys going again in the second half, draining a 3-pointer that Cuka followed with a driving layup to put the Ospreys up 40-31.

A Kyle Marks dunk at the 16:30 mark of the half cut the lead to four points, but the Ospreys were finally able to take charge with an 11-0 run that Cuka began with a 3-pointer at the 8:36 mark. He followed that with another 3-pointer before giving the Ospreys their biggest lead of the game, 64-45 advantage, with a layup at the 5:49 mark.

"Today's game was a great win for us," Cuka said. "Hopefully we can keep this momentum going. We knew they were capable of making a run at us in the end. We just stayed tough and kept playing hard."

The Eagles were able to cut the Osprey advantage to 10 in the final five minutes of play but would get no closer. The win was the first for UNF against Florida Gulf Coast in seven tries and also kept the Eagles winless on the road this season.

Derrick O'Neil led the Eagles with 15 points, followed by Marks who scored 13 and tied Januska with a game-high eight rebounds.

UNF won the battle of the boards 39-32 with Kyle Groothuis chipping in seven rebounds to go along with his 10 points. The Ospreys turned the ball over 17 times compared to 16 FGCU giveaways.

UNF returns to its home court in search of its longest winning streak of the year on Saturday when it hosts Stetson in a 4:15 p.m. contest. Both Riley and fellow senior Ian Gibson will be honored before the game as part of the team's senior day activities.