Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of North Florida men's basketball team couldn't overcome nine 3-pointers made by Belmont's Ian Clark and fell 70-56 to the Bruins on Sunday, Feb. 7, at the Curb Event Center.
Clark was 9-11 from 3-point range and Belmont was 13-27 as a team from 3-point range for the game, 48.1 percent. Clark ended with a game-high 31 points.
North Florida was without the services of starting senior guard and second leading scorer Stan Januska. Januska is being evaluated daily after suffering a bruised lung and ribs from a hard fall during the Jacksonville game on Jan. 29.
UNF falls to 11-13 overall and 6-8 in A-Sun play, while Belmont improves to 13-11 and 10-5 in league play, tied for first with Lipscomb.
“We can't expect to win if teams are making 3-pointers at the rate Belmont was knocking them in,” said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. “When you get outscored by 21 points behing the arc it is difficult to mount a comeback. Belmont deserves a lot of credit for executing and forcing us into 20 turnovers.”
North Florida came out cold early in the first half as Belmont jumped out to an 11-2 lead at the 17:26 mark. The Bruins would push their lead to 13 at 22-9 with 12:20 remaining in the half before the Ospreys would get on track. The BU lead was still 11 with 7:07 in the half before UNF cut the lead to six at 26-21 with 4:50 remaining before the break. Belmont had a five-point lead (31-26) with 1:46 to play before scoring the final four points of the half to lead 35-26 at halftime.
Freshmen Jerron Granberry led UNF with nine first half points. Belmont shot 48.4 percent in the first half and UNF shot 45.8 percent.
Belmont continued its surge early in the second half, going up 16 at 43-27 with 17:08 to play. The Ospreys battled back to cut the lead to seven, 47-40, with 11:37 remaining but that was as close as UNF would get.
Senior guard Eni Cuka, who started in place of the injured Januska, led the Ospreys with 14 points in his second start of the season.
Freshman guard Jerron Granberry added 12 points for UNF and junior guard Brad Haugabrook had 10. Haugabrook led the Ospreys with six rebounds and six assists.
North Florida shot 43.5 percent from the field, 60 percent from behind the arc and 58.8 percent from the free throw line. The Bruins shot 46.4 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from the line.
North Florida now returns home to take on Stetson on Thursday, Feb. 11, at 7:45 p.m., and Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. Both games are at UNF Arena and the second games of double-headers with the Osprey women.
The games can be heard on AM 1320 WBOB and 103.7 FM in Jacksonville or on-line at 1320WBOB.com. They can also 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.
