Basketball Falls 74-55 at Kansas State

Sunday, November 18

Manhattan, Kan.

1 pm (CT)

University of North Florida

1-3

Kansas State (FSN-KC)

4-0

North Florida

Kansas State

11/18/2012 4:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The North Florida basketball team dropped a tough 74-55 decision to Kansas State on Sunday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.

The Ospreys (1-3) closed the game on a 13-3 run but it wasn't enough to overcome the Wildcats (4-0) dominance on the glass as KSU out-rebounded UNF, 54-.31, including collecting 29 offensive boards.

Freshman Beau Beech finished with a career best 15 points to lead the North Florida attack with junior Travis Wallace chipping in 13 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Rodner McGruder scored 16 points in leading a trio of KSU players in double digits. Adrian Diaz, the brother of UNF senior Andy Diaz, narrowly missed a double-double finishing with 10 rebounds and nine points.

“It was disappointing that we weren't able to compete on the glass with them,” said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. “They are a quality team with some big guys in the paint and some shooters that can stretch you defensively. One thing we couldn't totally prepare for was their size and the amount of pressure that put on you defensively in the half court. I thought we had some open looks that didn't go down for us today. I was also proud of how we competed until the final buzzer.”

The Wildcats used an early 17-5 surge to gain control of the momentum. Kansas State capitalized on some Osprey miscues and cold shooting to start the game. With KSU up 25-9, North Florida made a bit of a surge closing the defict to just nine, 30-21, with 5:13 left in the first half following back-to-back three-pointers from Jerron Granberry and David Jeune.

Unfortunately, Kansas State would score 10 of the next 12 points and carried a 40-26 advantage into the halftime break. KSU shot 40 percent (13-32) from the floor in the opening period while UNF finished at a 32 percent (9-28) clip.

After a quick basket by Jeune to open the second half, K-State scored the next nine points extending their lead to 49-28 before the first media timeout of the stanza. The Wildcats would keep the pressure on and eventually build their advantage to 73-43 with 6:32 remaining.

However a gritty Osprey squad continued to battle holding the Wildcats to just one free throw the remainder of the game. UNF scored the final seven points of the contest.

North Florida continues its current five-game road stretch Wednesday at Florida State. The UNF-FSU game is slated to tip at 7 p.m. and will be televised live on Fox Sports South