How Sweep It Is: #MBB Edges JU in River City Rumble Rematch

Friday, February 14

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 pm

University of North Florida

-1413, 86 ASun

Jacksonville

-916, 59 ASun

North Florida

Jacksonville

Photo by: Todd Drexler

2/14/2014 10:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Final Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The North Florida basketball team closed the game on a 14-4 run earning a 79-74 victory Friday night over rival Jacksonville and securing a regular season sweep in the SunTrust River City Rumble.

The Ospreys (14-13, 8-6 ASun), who led by nine points at the half, fell behind the Dolphins (9-16, 5-9) midway through the second half before using a zone defense to stifle JU's offense in the closing minutes of play. This marked the eighth season that one of the team's in the series has earned a regular season sweep.

Sophomore Beau Beech, who had scored just 26 points over the last five games, sparked a potent UNF offense by scoring 21 points including making five three-pointers. Freshman Dallas Moore and junior Jalen Nesbitt each finished with 11 points for the Ospreys while senior Charles McRoy added 10 points in his final Rumble competition.

JU got 16 points from both Vince Martin and J.R. Holder, while leading scorers Jarvis Haywood and Keith McDougald were held in check by the Osprey defense. The Dolphin duo went a combined 4-for-20 from the floor including a 1-for-7 performance from the three-point arc while tallying just 11 points between them.

"This was another great team victory for us tonight," said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll, who has now guided the Ospreys to five of the program's six wins against Jacksonville. "I thought we got into a good flow offensively in the first half and did a great job of executing our defensive plan. I thought when they switched to zone in the second half it really slowed us down and we got bogged down for a stretch. I felt like we eventually made some things happen on offense and then used our zone really effectively to shut them down in the closing minutes. I'm excited that this victory allows our seniors, Charles (McRoy) and Travis (Wallace) to become the winningest class in program history. We have kept ourselves in place to earn a home game in the upcoming Atlantic Sun tournament and that continues to be our focus."

After scoring the first four points of the game, the Ospreys watch Jacksonville rattled off 11 consecutive points to grab control of the momentum. McRoy had a three-pointer and a breakaway dunk sparking a 30-10 surge by UNF over the next nine minutes of action. During the run, North Florida saw several different players connect from long distance allowing UNF to open up a 34-21 advantage with 7:50 left in the first half.

From that point, the two squads would trade baskets until the break with UNF holding a 43-34 lead at the half. The Ospreys shot 55 percent from the floor in the stanza including making 7-of-15 on treys, while limiting Jacksonville to only 32 percent shooting.

North Florida maintained a double-digit advantage through the first five minutes of the second half. JU switched to a zone defense and slowly began chipping into the UNF lead. The Dolphins would use a 21-6 run to regain a 66-61 lead with just under eight minutes to play.

With JU still up five, 70-65, at the 5:05 mark, UNF swapped to a zone on their end defensively and effectively shut down the Dolphins. Beech drilled a three to open up the Ospreys closing run followed by a layup from Demarcus Daniels that knotted the score. RJ Slawson's dunk would give JU a brief lead before another trey by Beech with 2:46 gave the Ospreys the lead for good. Beech was fouled attempting a three-pointer on the next possession and made two of three free throws to put UNF up by three.

Jacksonville would miss their next three shot attempts and Nesbitt was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final minute to secure the UNF victory. Martin would score an uncontested layup in the closing seconds for the final margin.

The victory for UNF marked the program's 55th all-time Atlantic Sun victory and marked the 58th career win for the Osprey seniors. The win also secured North Florida's bid for the Atlantic Sun tournament while also eclipsing last year's season win total.

Up next for North Florida will be the team's final regular season home stand. UNF will host USC Upstate on Thursday at 7 p.m.