Ospreys Fall 69-58 at Mercer

Saturday, January 21

Macon, Ga.

4:30 pm

University of North Florida

-912 (35 ASun)

Mercer

-147 (62 ASun)

North Florida

Mercer

1/21/2012 6:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Boxscore (PDF)
Game Book

MACON, Ga. -- A surge in the second half allowed Mercer to earn a 69-58 win over the North Florida basketball team Saturday night at the University Center.

The Ospreys (9-12, 3-5 Atlantic Sun) got a career-high 20 points from Travis Wallace but were unable to get stops down the stretch as Mercer (14-7, 6-2) outscored the Ospreys 14-9 over the final seven minutes. The loss was the fourth straight for UNF.

In addition to Wallace, Parker Smith finished with 11 as the only other UNF player to reach double digits. The Ospreys struggled from long distance going just 2-for-14 (14 percent).

Daniel Coursey had 13 points to lead a trio of Bears in double digits. Mercer also out-rebounded UNF, 40-30, led by seven for Monty Brown.

“We just need to get a win,” said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. “We continue to be right there but just have to find a way to secure a victory. I've told the guys that games come down to about six-to-eight decisive plays and for whatever reason those plays aren't going our way right now. At times we defended extremely well tonight but they were able to take advantage of our few mistakes. I thought we also gave up too many second chance points. This team is resilient and will go back to work at practice tomorrow and get ready for the next game.”

Mercer outscored North Florida 22-10 to open the game as the Ospreys struggled to get in synch on the offensive end. UNF turned things around with their defense holding the Bears scoreless for nearly seven minutes. The 12-0 surge allowed UNF to even the score at 22 with 5:11 left in the opening stanza.

A layup from Matt Sauey at the 4:29 mark gave the Ospreys their only lead of the night, 24-23. Mercer owned a 29-27 lead at the half.

The Bears extended their lead to six with a pair of quick baskets to start the second half, before UNF battled back to knot the score at 38-38 following a putback by Charles McRoy with 13:49 to play. Mercer then scored the next five points and maintained a lead the rest of the way.

The Ospreys closed the deficit to six with just over seven minutes remaining but Mercer got a three from Travis Smith to halt the UNF run and push the lead back to nine. The final margin marked the Bears largest lead of the night.

North Florida continues its current four-game road stretch Monday at Kennesaw State.