Final Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- North Florida had four players in double digits and matched a season high with 12 three-pointers but struggled with 20 turnovers in a tough 80-70 road loss Monday night against Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Junior Trent Mackey led the way for UNF (7-6) with 18 points, hitting a career-best tying six three-pointers. Mackey scored all of his points in the first half while fellow junior Beau Beech added 17 points, including 15 in the second half as the Ospreys outscored the Hawkeyes (9-4) in the closing period.

Iowa's Aaron White led all scorers finishing with 23 points while teammate Jarrod Uthoff tallied a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. As a team, the Hawkeyes were 26-for-28 (93 percent) from the free throw line capped by perfect 18-18 in the second half.

"Our guys again demonstrated the same resiliency we've shown all season," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "We continued to fight back and cut deficits but just hurt ourselves with some unforced errors. I also thought that their transition game really bothered us, especially in the first half. We had several guys maked plays to keep us in the game and give us opportunities. Trent (Mackey) kept us in the game with his shooting in the first half and then allowed our other guys to get some baskets as Iowa focused on trying to limit is chances. I'm excited for our guys to get a little break to spend time with family and then we will be back to work on continuing to improve."

Iowa grabbed a lead after running off a 14-3 spurt early in the opening stanza. Mackey scored 12 of the Ospreys first 15 points as UNF didn't make a two-point field goal until a jumper by Beech with 10:11 left made the score, 20-15. The Hawkeyes responded with seven straight points keyed by back-to-back treys by White and Peter Jok.

The Ospreys rallied to trim the margin to five, but Iowa would close with a 16-8 run over the final five minutes to earn a 44-31 lead at halftime.

UNF raced out of the break using a 14-6 surge to close the gap to five, 50-45, with 14:42 remaining in the game. Iowa would then score the next seven points to retake a double-digit advantage. An 8-0 run by the Ospreys again made the margin five with just over eight minutes left to play. Chris Davenport started the rally with a lay-up followed by back-to-back dunks from Beech and Jalen Nesbitt and capped by a lay-up for Romelo Banks.

An 11-2 spurt by Iowa over the next two minutes pushed the Hawkeyes to their largest lead of the second half, 70-56, with 6:31 on the clock. A final push for UNF pulled the Ospreys within seven with three minutes left, but Iowa would score their final 10 points from the free throw line to hold on for the victory.

For the game, Dallas Moore had 13 points and a career best seven assists with Nesbitt adding 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. Davenport was the team's top rebounder pulling down eight boards along with eight points and two blocked shots. The Ospreys also shot 45 percent from the floor while holding Iowa to 38 percent.

North Florida will take a few days off from competition for the holidays before returning to action on Dec. 29 with a rematch against Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn. The TTU game continues the Ospreys current six-game road stretch which will also include games at Austin Peay (Dec. 31) and Alabama (Jan. 2).