Eagles Nip Ospreys, 75-73

Monday, January 7

Ft. Myers, Fla.

7:30 pm

University of North Florida

-710, 22 ASun

Florida Gulf Coast

-116, 31 ASun

UNF

Florida Gulf Coast

Photo by: Todd Drexler

1/7/2013 9:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

FT. MYERS, Fla. -- The North Florida basketball team rallied from an 18-point deficit and had a chance in the closing seconds to earn a second straight road victory but were edged 75-73 at Florida Gulf Coast on Monday night in Alico Arena.

The loss for the Ospreys (7-10, 2-2 ASun) snapped a seven-game win streak over the Eagles (11-6, 3-1).

Parker Smith finished with 20 points to lead the Ospreys while Beau Beech added 14 in the loss. Travis Wallace (12) and Andy Diaz (10) also reached double digits for UNF.

The Eagles placed five players in double figures led by 14 points each from Sherwood Brown and Chase Fieler. Brown also led all players with nine rebounds. For the game, FGCU turned 17 offensive rebounds into 26 points and also scored 42 points in the paint.

"I thought our guys played with great effort after the early deficit," said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. "The second chance points they got hurt us and were the difference in the game. We had opportunites and just have to find ways to make plays to win games."

FGCU built the 18-point lead midway through the opening half as the Eagles capitalized on cool shooting and several UNF miscues during a 23-4 run. Florida Gulf Coast closed their strong surge by scoring 10 consecutive points.

The Ospreys slowly chipped away at the deficit but FGCU maintained a double figure advantage for most of the first half and carried a 40-29 lead into the halfime break.

UNF opened the second half with a trio of three-pointers including one from Smith and a pair for Beech trimming the Eagles lead to single figures. FGCU kept a slight lead until Ray Rodriguez drained a trey at 10:44 mark to put UNF in front 54-53. The two squads traded baskets over the next few possessions.

With the score knotted at 60, UNF built its largest lead of the night following back-to-back treys by Beech and David Jeune. The Eagles would use a 7-0 spurt to retake the lead minutes later and then fended off a pair of last second attempts by the Ospreys to win the game.

North Florida now returns home to tip off a three-game home stand beginning Thursday against Mercer at 7 p.m.