North Florida Rally Falls Short To Jacksonville, 76-69, in A-Sun Tournament Quarterfinals

Wednesday, March 3

Macon, Ga.

9 p.m.

University of North Florida

19-11 (14-6ASun)

Jacksonville

13-18 (8-12ASun)

North Florida

Jacksonville

Cuka scores 24 in his final game for the Ospreys

Photo by: Sideline Sports/UNF Athletics

North Florida Rally Falls Short To Jacksonville, 76-69, in A-Sun Tournament Quarterfinals

3/4/2010 12:22:50 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Senior guard Eni Cuka led UNF with 24 points in final game of season

Box Score

MACON, Ga. – North Florida's second-half rally came up just short as UNF fell, 76-69, to Jacksonville in the quarterfinals of the men's General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Championships on Wednesday, March 3, at the University Center on the campus of Mercer.

The Ospreys trailed by 19 points with 10:34 remaining before making a valiant run to slice the JU lead to five at 64-59 with 1:47 to play. But the Dolphins would hit 12 free throws over the last 1:47 to close out the game. UNF got the score down to four at 73-69 with 20 seconds remaining but could not get any closer.

Jacksonville, the No. 2 seed, advances to the semifinals of A-Sun Tournament, while UNF ends the year at 13-18 overall and 8-12 in league play. JU improves to 19-11 overall.

This was the first year that UNF was eligible for the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament after finishing its four-year reclassification period last year. In Matthew Driscoll's first-year at the helm, the Ospreys improved their win total by five games from last year, only the third time in UNF's 18-year history that the team has improved by five or more wins from the previous year.

Senior guard Eni Cuka led the Ospreys with 24 points, going 5-11 from 3-point range, but JU got 24-point performances from senior's and all-conference performers Lehmon Colbert and Ben Smith.

The Dolphins jumped out to a quick 10-1 lead less than three minutes into the game and continued to surge, pushing their lead to 11 at 17-6 with 13:50 to go in the half. North Finally started to execute and went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to four at 19-15 at the 7:26 mark. The Ospreys would get as close as two (30-28) with 2:49 left before the break before JU scored the final four points of the half to lead 34-28 at the intermission. Senior guard Eni Cuka led UNF with 10 first half points.

JU opened the second half on a 12-3 run to up its lead to 15 at 46-31 with 13:38 remaining. The lead grew to as much as 19 with 9:16 to play at 56-37 before UNF would begin to chip away at the lead. With the lead still at 16 at 60-44 with 5:41 left, the Ospreys would go on a 15-4 to cut the lead to the five-point margin with 1:47 left.

Senior guard Germaine Sparkes added 11 points for UNF, while freshman Jerron Granberry had a team-high seven rebounds and junior guard Brad Haugabrook a game-high six assists.

North Florida shot 35.9 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from behind the arc and 64.7 percent from the free throw line. The Dolphins shot 40 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from 3-point range and 80.6 percent from the line, including its last 14 points of the game from the line.

Clobert had a game-high nine rebounds for JU.