Hot Shooting Norse Outrun Ospreys, 72-45

Thursday, February 28

Highland Heights, Ky.

7:30 pm

University of North Florida

12-18, 7-10ASun

Northern Kentucky

10-15, 8-9ASun

Team	1	2	F
North Florida	26	19	45
Northern Kentucky	34	38	72

Photo by: Todd Drexler

2/28/2013 9:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- The North Florida basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Northern Kentucky squad Thursday night in a tough 72-45 loss at the Bank of Kentucky Center.

The Ospreys (12-18, 7-10 ASun) were unable to recover after the Norse (10-15, 8-9) opened the second half with a 21-4 surge. Northern Kentucky made 11 three-pointers in the game and committed just three turnovers in reaching a season high point total.

For UNF, junior Charles McRoy continued his strong recent play finishing with 13 points as the lone Osprey in double digits. Travis Wallace scored eight and leading scorer Parker Smith was held to just three. While Smith made just one three-pointer for the night, it was an historic one as he established a new Atlantic Sun single season record hitting his 108th of the year.

NKU was led by 30 points from Eshaunte Jones including six three-pointers. Jones total allowed him to reach 1,000 for his career and also become the first UNF opponent to reach 30-point mark this season.

"We talk about 3s beating you and tonight we gave up way too many points from beyond the three-point line," said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. "Give them credit for doing what they do and executing their plan. I thought Jones was a difference maker tonight for them. We battled in the first half but its hard to recover after our sluggish start in the second half. We just weren't able to get Parker any good looks. It was a tough night all around."

The lead flipped back and forth in the early going with both squads leading by four during the opening 10 minutes of play. The Norse capitalized an a pair of four-point plays to build a double-digit lead in the first half and owned a 34-26 advantage at the half.

NKU seized control at start of second half scoring as Jones scored the first five points in jumpstarting their 21-4 run. McRoy would score six straight for the Ospreys followed by a trey from Ray Rodriguez that cut the lead to 58-39, but that would be as close as the Ospreys would get the rest of the way.

For the game, UNF held a 31-25 advantage in rebounding led by seven from David Jeune. The Ospreys also were hurt by 14 turnovers resulting in 23 points for NKU.

North Florida closes out the regular season against Lipscomb at 8:15 p.m. (CT) on Saturday in Nashville.