Wallace Double-Double Leads #MBB to 87-77 Win at Kennesaw

Saturday, March 1

Kennesaw, Ga.

1 pm

University of North Florida

16-15, 10-8ASun

Kennesaw State

-625, 315 ASun

North Florida

Kennesaw State

Photo by: Todd Drexler

3/1/2014 5:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Final Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

KENNESAW, Ga. — Behind four starters scoring in double figures, the North Florida basketball team picked up a historic 87-77 victory Saturday afternoon over Kennesaw State at the KSU Convocation Center.

With the win, UNF improved to 16-15 overall and 10-8 in Atlantic Sun Conference play while also finishing tied for fourth in the regular season. The Ospreys have matched the program records for both overall and ASun wins in a season along with equaling the program's best league finish.

"Finishing the regular season with a pair of road wins says a great deal about our guys determination and focus," said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll, who has guided the Ospreys to 23 of the program's 24 all-time ASun road wins. "I thought we were locked in defensively and limited their looks from the three-point line. We were aggressive offensively and able to not only create fouls but also make the free throws that we earned. This time of year is always about momentum and we continued to build ours with our performance today."

Senior Travis Wallace, who grew up near the KSU campus, continued his dominant play against the Owls finishing with a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. In six career games against Kennesaw State, Wallace reached the 20-point mark in five contests.

Joining Wallace in double figures for UNF were freshmen Dallas Moore (17) and Chris Davenport (13) along with sophomore Beau Beech (13).

Delbert Love led the Owls with 26 points while Nate Rucker added 13 points, all in the second half, and Bernard Morena chipped in all 10 of his points in the first half.

The Ospreys never trailed in a game that was tied just three times early in play. The score stayed close through the first five minutes before UNF opened up a margin behind a 15-5 surge. Demarcus Daniels got the run started with a three-pointer followed by a layup from Jalen Nesbitt.

Following a KSU layup, North Florida scored the next six points with jumpers by Romelo Banks and Charles McRoy followed by a pair of Wallace free throws. The Owls halted the run with a basket before Wallace converted a layup and Davenport hammered home one of his three dunks in the game.

The Owls used an 11-3 run over the next four minutes of game action to get within three points and kept it close, but the Ospreys carried a 41-33 lead into the halftime break after closing the period on a 9-4 run.

Sparked by eight points from Wallace, UNF broke things open by outscoring KSU, 11-7, over the first eight minutes of the second half. The Ospreys will hold a double-digit advantage for much of the final 12 minutes of play leading by as many as 18 points, 65-47.

KSU attempted to make a late charge but the Ospreys turned back any rally going 14 for 17 from the free throw line over the final eight minutes including a 9-for-10 performance by Moore in that stretch.

North Florida, the No. 6 seed, will now begin Atlantic Sun Conference tournament play with a quarterfinal road game at No. 3 USC Upstate on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Ospreys dropped a pair of tough battles against the Spartans in the regular season.