Ospreys Falter at USC Upstate, 77-52

Monday, February 13

Spartanburg, S.C.

7 pm

University of North Florida

USC Upstate

Photo by: Todd Drexler

2/13/2012 8:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Boxscore (PDF)
Game Book

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- On a night where nothing went their way, the North Florida basketball team suffered a disappointing 77-52 road loss Monday night to USC Upstate at the Hodge Center.

UNF (13-15, 7-8 Atlantic Sun) was unable to overcome a hot-shooting Spartan (17-10, 10-4) squad that finished the game connecting on 27-54 field goals including eight 3-pointers.

Parker Smith scored 13 points to lead the Ospreys with Jerron Granberry and Travis Wallace chipping in eight apiece. Fred Landers scored all seven of his points in the second half.

Upstate placed four players in double-figures led by 17 from Adrian Rogers. Spartans also earned a 40-27 advantage in rebounding and held the Ospreys to just 38 percent shooting in the contest.

"We had too many empty possessions tonight," said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. "We made some stops late in the first half and had a chance to get back into it but couldn't convert on offense. Give credit to Upstate for taking the fight to us all night long. We have to get back home and regroup because we have some very important remaining games."

The Spartans raced out to a 12-5 lead in the opening minutes and never let up. The lead widened to double digits, 21-11, with 11:06 left in the first period. A 14-5 surge by Upstate gave them their largest lead of the half, 32-16.

UNF cut into the defict pulling within nine, 38-29, with just over two minutes to play in the stanza but went scoreless the rest of the way and trailed 40-29 at the break.

An 11-2 spurt at the start of the second half put the game away for the Spartans as Upstate maintained a 20-point margin and led by as many as 30.

North Florida hosts Kennesaw State on Saturday night to open its final home weekend of play this season.