VCU Limits Long Range Attack By @OspreyMBB

Wednesday, December 30

Richmond, Va.

7:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

10-6

VCU

8-5

North Florida

VCU

12/30/2015 11:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Final Boxscore (pdf)

RICHMOND, Va. – The North Florida basketball team struggled to get things rolling from long distance making a season low five three-pointers in a hard fought 80-68 loss Wednesday night at VCU.

The Ospreys (10-6), who entered the game averaging a nation's best 12.9 three-pointers per game, made just 5 of 18 from beyond the arc (27 percent) as VCU (8-5) focused on forcing UNF to take two-point shots.

Dallas Moore netted his ninth 20-point performance of the season finishing with a game high 24 points including 18 in a stellar second half outing. Chris Davenport scored seven of the team's first nine points en route to 13 while Demarcus Daniels added 12.

Daniels made a bit of history during the first half of the game swatting a trio of shots raising his career total to 145, which allowed him to grab a share of UNF's all-time blocked shot record with Matt Sauey.

UNF also demonstrated a concerted effort on the glass earning a 33-30 advantage in rebounding. Aaron Bodager led the way with seven boards while Moore and Davenport each tallied six.

The Rams had a pair of players with over 20 points as Melvin Johnson scored 23 and Korey Billbury added 22.

North Florida raced out of the gate scoring the first nine points of the contest sparked by aggressive play from Davenport. The Rams answered with the next nine points to even the score before the teams took turns with the lead over the next several minutes of play.

The Ospreys would go through a near five minute scoreless stretch but the Rams could only build a six point lead until a late 9-3 run to close the half provided VCU a 39-31 halftime advantage.

The squads traded baskets over the first five minutes of play in the second half. VCU would grab the momentum following a 13-2 surge. The Rams would lead by as many as 18 points, 61-43, with 11 minutes left to play.

UNF continued to battle and slowly trimmed the margin to eight points, 74-66, with 2:51 remaining, but VCU was able to make a few late shots for the final margin.

"I was really proud of the way our guys continued to fight and compete tonight," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "I thought both teams were committed to preventing the other team from taking three-pointers and did solid jobs of guarding the arc. Give VCU credit for being able to stay focused and force us to only take two-point shots. We were able to eventually get a few open looks but just missed those shots we usually make. I thought be rebounded better and that's an area we need to continue building on. We will look forward and work to get things ready to go for the next game."

North Florida concludes its non-conference schedule Saturday on the road at Eastern Michigan.