Southern Outlasts #MBB, 87-78, in Home Opener

Saturday, November 16

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 pm

University of North Florida

1-3

Southern

1-3

Southern

North Florida

Photo by: Bill Pearce - wlpearce.com

11/16/2013 10:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Final Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Despite placing five players in double figures, the North Florida basketball team opened its home schedule with a tough 87-78 loss against Southern University on Saturday night at UNF Arena.

The Ospreys (1-3) saw their home opening streak of four consecutive games snapped as a veteran Southern (1-3) squad benefitted from a 52.5 percent shooting performance.

"This is not the way we wanted to make our home debut," said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. "I want to thank the administration for doing the things to get us a great crowd. I thought our fans were great tonight as well. We were able to score enough points to win this game, but if we don't do a better job of defending we won't beat many teams. Our biggest struggle tonight was to consistently get stops on defense. We need to continue working to get better and be ready to play our next game on Monday."

Freshman Dallas Moore and senior Charles McRoy each finished with 14 points to pace the UNF offense. Beau Beech added 12 with newcomer Devin Wilson chipping in a career best 11 including a trio of three-pointers. Senior Travis Wallace rounded out the double-digit performances with 10 pointns and a team-best nine rebounds. Moore also led the Ospreys with four assists.

Southern had a pair of players top the 20-point mark, as Calvin Godfrey finished with 25 and Yondarius Johnson added 21.

UNF seized the early momentum in their home debut, pushing in front by 10, 21-11, with 13:10 to play in the first half. Wallace opened a 9-0 spurt for the Ospreys with five straight points with Wilson hitting a three and Romelo Banks adding a free throw.

From there, Southern battled back on the strength of a 20-3 surge to open a seven-point margin, 31-24, of their own with 8:22 remaining the half. The Jaguars would lead by as many as nine points before a late 9-2 spurt for the Ospreys allowed them to trim the halftime deficit to 48-43.

A three-pointer by Moore followed by a Chris Davenport layup to open the second half knotted the game at 48, just over a minute into play. However, the Jaguars responded with a 21-4 run over the next eight minutes of play to open up a double-digit advantage.

The Ospreys would rally and trim the margin to just four points, 72-68, with a little more than four minutes left to play and would keep it close until Southern converted several free throws in the closing minute to earn the final margin.

North Florida makes a quick return to action as the Ospreys welcome Savannah State for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Monday night.