Ospreys Outlast Owls for 76-68 Road Win

Monday, January 23

Kennesaw, Ga.

7 pm

University of North Florida

-1012, 45 ASun

Kennesaw State

-318, 09 ASun

North Florida

Kennesaw State

1/23/2012 9:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Boxscore (PDF)
Game Book
Postgame interview (Travis Wallace)

KENNESAW, Ga. – Travis Wallace scored a career-high 27 points and the North Florida basketball team fought off a late surge to secure a 76-68 victory Monday night over Kennesaw State at the KSU Convocation Center.

The Ospreys (10-12, 4-5 Atlantic Sun) snapped a four-game losing skid with the win that marked the fifth straight over Kennesaw State (3-18, 0-9). UNF led by 12 points at the half and led by as many as 18 before the furious finish.

Wallace, a native of nearby Marietta, Ga., notched his seventh consecutive double-digit scoring performance and second straight 20+ point outing. He was 12-for-16 from the floor on the night and shared team rebounding honors with five boards.

Parker Smith also finished in double digits for the Ospreys scoring 18 points including five three-pointers. Jimmy Williams handed out eight assists for UNF.

Aaron Anderson recorded a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds to pace the Owls. Markeith Cummings added 17 and Delbert Love chipped in 15.

“Feels great to get this win,” said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. “I was proud of our guys refusal to quit when they made their charge. It was truly a team effort and we got contributions from guys up and down the lineup to earn this victory. I thought we took a few rushed shots when we had the big lead and that allowed them to get back into the game. We've played half the conference schedule so it's time for us to get back to work and continue improving.”

North Florida got out of the gates quickly outscoring KSU, 19-9, through first seven minutes of play. Wallace sparked the strong start scoring eight points. The Owls closed the deficit to five, but UNF answered with a 10-0 spurt to regain the momentum.

KSU closed the half on an 11-5 run as the Ospreys carried a 42-30 lead into the halftime break. Wallace had 14 points to offset Anderson's 14 points.

UNF maintained a double digit advantage for almost 15 minutes of play in the second half and held as large as an 18-point lead, 63-45. With Ospreys up 65-50 at the 6:43 mark, Kennesaw began cutting into the margin behind a 14-4 surge.

A Spencer Dixon free throw closed the gap to three, 71-68, with just over a minute left in the game but UNF's defense stiffened holding the Owls scoreless while converting the final five points for the win.

Both offenses were effective as North Florida shot 51.7 percent from the floor and Kennesaw finished at 50 percent. The Owls outrebounded UNF, 33-28. The Ospreys connected on seven three-pointers while limiting KSU to just three treys.

North Florida concludes its current four-game road stretch with a trip to Nashville for games at Lipscomb (Jan. 28) and Belmont (Jan. 30).