Final Boxscore (pdf)

BATON ROUGE, La. – The North Florida basketball team connected on a program record 19 three-pointers and had two players top 30 points but came up short in a shoot-out with LSU, falling 119-108, Wednesday night in the Maravich Center.

The Ospreys (6-3) held a double-digit advantage in the first half and were ahead midway through the second half before LSU (4-3) rallied behind the inspired play of freshman standout Ben Simmons.

UNF senior Beau Beech and junior Dallas Moore each finished with 31 points, marking the first time in program history that two players tallied 30-plus points in the same game. Beech was the early catalyst netting 22 points in the first half including a 6-of-7 performance from long range. Moore picked up the pace in the second period scoring 20 points.

Seniors Demarcus Daniels (18) and Trent Mackey (13) also reached double digits for the Ospreys, who reached triple digits for just the fourth time and recorded the second highest point total in the Division I era. Additionally, UNF made 19 of 33 from beyond the arc for a 57 percent performance.

Simmons, the expected No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft, led all players posting 43 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks. His play led a Tiger squad that saw all five starters reach double digits and erupt for 71 second half points on 77 percent shooting (27-35).

"Obviously when you score 108 points you feel like that is enough to get a win," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "We came out of the gates really well and were flowing offensively. The guys put us in a place to win but I made some mistakes in the second half by not trying to do thing differently defensively. I have to make adjustments to prevent a team from scoring that many points. I was really proud of the effort and fight by the guys. I thought we were better rebounding the ball but just not able to get some stops late. We will get back to work and find ways to be better on defense."

The Ospreys hit four threes to gain the early momentum. UNF built a lead of 33-19 with 9:23 left in the first half before the Tigers made a late surge. LSU used a 16-7 surge to pull within three points but UNF pushed back in front by 10 and carried a 56-48 lead into the break. The point total was the squad's third 50-plus first half performance of the season.

Simmons scored six straight points after the break and had 12 of team's first 14 of the half as the Tigers closed the margin. The Ospreys led 71-64 with just under 15 minutes remaining but an 8-0 run by LSU gave them their first lead since the opening minute of play. 

The two squads traded the lead over the next possessions and the game stayed within three points for several minutes. The Tigers slowly began to widen the gap as Simmons would score 25 points in the final 20 minutes to help LSU secure the win.

North Florida concludes its two game road trip Saturday at Dayton.