University of North Florida
9-16, 6-8ASun
Jacksonville (CSS-TV)
16-7,10-4ASun
Dolphins Outlast Ospreys 71-69 in River City Rematch
2/8/2011 11:36:06 PM | Men's Basketball
Final Boxscore
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In true rival fashion, North Florida and Jacksonville battled back and forth in a cross-town match up, but the Dolphins held on for the 71-69 victory Tuesday night in Atlantic Sun action at Veterans Memorial Arena.
For the second time this season the “River City Rumble” came down to the closing seconds and this time JU's Russell Powell scored the winning layup with seven seconds left.
It marked UNF's (9-16, 6-8 Atlantic Sun) second consecutive two-point loss to one of the league's top squads. Jacksonville (16-7, 10-4) earned its 11th straight win over their cross town foes with the victory.
Andy Diaz finished with 20 points and seven rebounds to lead the Ospreys. UNF also got double digit performances from Jerron Granberry (18), Jimmy Williams (12) and Brad Haugabrook (10). Granberry scored 14 of his points including four three-pointers during the squad's second half rally.
Delwan Graham collected a 14 point, 15 rebound double-double for the Dolphins, who were led in scoring by Ayron Hardy's 15 points. Keith McDougald chipped in 14 for JU.
“We continue to be a very competitive team,” said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. “But, like I've said before we have to find a way to get it done in the end. We don't grade on the curve and we are only into winning games. I can promise that we will continue to work hard and we are going to figure it out.”
UNF jumped out to an early 7-2 lead at the 16:15 mark. The Ospreys maintained the lead and were up 11-6 with just under 13 minutes left in the half, but the Dolphins used a 9-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to take a 15-11 advantage. JU held its largest lead of the half, 29-19, with 5:32 on the clock, North Florida made a late surge trimming the lead over the final minutes to just five at the half, 35-30.
Coming out of the break, the Ospreys continued their run, pulling within one, 41-40 after three minutes of play. JU held on to the lead and extended it back to six (50-44) with 12:28 remaining.
Ospreys refused to fold and eventually rallied for their first lead in the second half, 58-57, after a lay-up by Haugabrook at the 5:19 mark.
From that point, the game settled into a back-and-forth affair featuring five lead changes and five ties. Neither team would lead by more than two points the rest of the night.
Graham converted four consecutive free throws to give the Dolphins a two-point edge, 67-65, with 2:26 left but Haugabrook scored on a driving layup a minute later forcing a tie with 1:02 remaining in the game.
Two more Graham free throws at 0:31 again put JU in the lead before David Jeune scored his only points of the night for UNF knotting the score at 69 and setting up the final frantic seconds.
Following Powell's basket with seven seconds left, UNF inbounded the ball and brought it up the court but Haugabrook's game-winning trey try bounded off the back iron allowing JU to escape with the victory.
Jacksonville outrebounded UNF 44-26 and overcame a 37 percent shooting performance from the field by converting 26-of-29 free throw attempts (89.7 percent) compared to 12-for-20 by the Ospreys.
