North Florida Needs Overtime, Downs Florida Gulf Coast 68-65

Saturday, February 13

UNF Arena

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

Florida Gulf Coast

Diaz leads UNF with 17 points and 11 rebounds

North Florida Needs Overtime, Downs Florida Gulf Coast 68-65

2/13/2010 10:40:22 PM | Men's Basketball

Win puts UNF on the verge of A-Sun Tournament berth

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The North Florida men's basketball team needed overtime, but its 68-65 win over Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, Feb. 13, at UNF Arena moved the Ospreys closer to its first appearance in the General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Championships, March 3-6, in Macon, Ga.

The top eight teams in the A-Sun standings advance to the conference tournament, with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Tournament.

The Ospreys (12-14 overall, 7-9 A-Sun) sit in eighth-place and own a three-and-a-half game lead over Stetson (6-19 overall, 4-13 A-Sun) with the Hatters having three games left to play and UNF four games remaining. One UNF win or one Stetson loss would clinch a tournament berth for the Ospreys.

Nine of the 11 teams in the league are eligible for the league tournament, with FGCU and USC Upstate not eligible as they have not finished their full reclassification to Division I. This is the first year that UNF is eligible for the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament after finishing its four-year reclassification period last year.

North Florida's win dropped Gulf Coast to 7-19 and 4-13 in league play. The Ospreys are just a half game behind Kennesaw State for seventh place in the league standing and a game-and-a-half behind Mercer for sixth. UNF's next two games are at Mercer and at Kennesaw, before finishing up the regular season at home vs. ETSU (Feb. 25) and Campbell (Feb. 27).

The seven A-Sun wins for UNF is its best league record since joining the conference in 2005-06. The previous high was six last year.

The Ospreys were without the services of sophomore Matt Sauey. UNF's leading rebounder and third leading scorer missed the game with a sprained right ankle suffered late in Thursday's game vs. Stetson.

The Gulf Coast game was tight throughout with the Eagles leading for most of the first half before the Ospreys made a late surge to take a 30-27 lead into halftime. Freshman guard Jerron Granberry led UNF with 12 first half points.

The second half was more of the same as there were eight ties and 12 lead changes during the game. With UNF down one late in the second half, senior guard Stan Januska nailed a 3-pointer with 59 seconds left to put the Ospreys up 55-53. Gulf Coast's Anthony Banks tipped-in a miss with 41 seconds left to tie the game, and after a North Florida miss, the UNF defense buckled down and forced FGCU into a tough miss at the buzzer to force overtime.

In overtime, the Eagles hit one free throw to go up 61-60 with 1:55 to play. After misses by both teams, freshman forward Andy Diaz hit a basket with 41 seconds left to make it 62-61. North Florida would make six free throws in the final 26 seconds and FGCU missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Ospreys held on for the win. Senior guard Eni Cuka would make 4-of-4 free throws, Granberry one and junior guard Brad Haugabrook one in that last 26 second stretch.

Diaz led UNF with 17 points and 11 rebounds, both totals matching his career highs. Granberry and Cuka each added 13 points, while Haugabrook and Cuka each had four assists.

North Florida shot 50 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from behind the arc and 54.2 percent from the free throw line. The Eagles shot 42 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from 3-point range and 62.5 percent from the line.

Reed Baker led Gulf Coast with 19 points.

“Our guys fought threw a whole bunch of things, including injuries that at this particular stage are pretty common,” said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. “Our guys did a good job doing what they had to do. In going up and down, coming back, taking the lead and getting some big stops down the stretch. Florida Gulf Coast is one of those teams who battles everyone. It's a brutal league, every night is just a war and it's kind of cool. But I really thought our guys did a phenomenal job with what we had to do to get things done tonight. If you look at it down the stretch, our seniors really made some great plays. I know Andy Diaz had a double-double and played 40 minutes, which he has never done before, but I really give credit to our seniors for really stepping up and doing what they had to do.”

The Ospreys now head to the state of Georgia for a pair of games to take on Mercer on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m., and Kennesaw State on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m.

The games can be heard on AM 1320 WBOB and 103.7 FM in Jacksonville or on-line at 1320WBOB.com. Both games can be seen on www.ASun.TV.

Single-game tickets for basketball games are $10 for adults and $8 for youth 17-and-under and senior citizens 55-and-older. Children 2-and-under and any current UNF student with a valid Osprey1 Card are admitted free. Student guest passes for those events are $5 and limited to one per student.