UNF Falters Against Belmont, 83-53

Monday, January 2

Jacksonville, Fla.

7:45 pm

University of North Florida

7-8, 1-1ASun

Belmont

10-5, 3-0ASun

Belmont

North Florida

Photo by: Todd Drexler

1/2/2012 9:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Boxscore (PDF)
Game Book

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The North Florida basketball team fell 83-53 to a well-functioning Belmont squad Monday night in the opening game of 2012 at UNF Arena.

The loss drops the Ospreys to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in Atlantic Sun Conference play and snaps their seven-game home win streak. Belmont wins their third straight and improves to 10-5 and 3-0.

Parker Smith scored 10 points to lead the Ospreys with Charles McRoy adding nine. Travis Wallace pulled down a team-best eight rebounds on the night.

Belmont had five players reach double digits paced by 16 points for Scott Saunders, who also finished with nine rebounds.

“It was all about defense tonight,” said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. “We were competitive early but give Belmont credit for doing a good job of taking away the things we have been doing well and making the plays they needed to get the win. We have been a resilient group all year so I expect us to get back to work tomorrow, get better and be prepared to play again on Wednesday. That's the beauty of the basketball season in that there is always the next game to get ready to play.”

The Ospreys seized the early momentum building a 9-4 lead thru the opening four minutes of play and maintained an advantage until a three-minute scoring drought midway through the period. Belmont took advantage of the scoreless stretch for UNF using a 10-point surge to go from four down to six up.

The Bruins methodically widened their lead over the next several minutes of play and then outscored the Ospreys 12-2 over the final four minutes of the half for a 48-30 halftime lead.

The two squads traded baskets through the first 10 minutes of the second half as North Florida was unable to chip away at the Bruin lead. Belmont used another 10-0 surge over a four minute span to put the game out of reach.

For the game, Belmont shot 48.4 percent from the field including a 54.5 percent performance in the first half. UNF connected at a 41.5 percent clip for the game but were held scoreless from the three-point line going 0-8. It marked the first time this season that the Ospreys failed to make atleast one trey.

North Florida has a quick turnaround as Lipscomb visits UNF Arena on Wednesday night at 7:45 p.m.