Final Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

KENNESAW, Ga. -- The North Florida basketball team opened the second half with a 25-2 run to cruise to a 67-51 road win in Atlantic Sun Conference play on Saturday afternoon at the KSU Convocation Center.

The Ospreys (16-11, 8-2 A-Sun) claimed their fifth conference road victory of the season and have matched the program's single season record for wins. The loss was the 12th straight for the Owls (9-18, 3-7) against UNF.

UNF got a balanced attack with four of the five starters reaching double digits led by 14 from Chris Davenport. Beau Beech finished with 13 while Jalen Nesbitt had 12 and Dallas Moore chipped in 11. Beech and Davenport shared team honors with six rebounds each while Nesbitt (6) and Moore (5) combined for 11 of the team's 15 assists. The Ospreys also collected a season-best 11 steals getting three apiece from Beech, Nesbitt and Moore.

Nigel Pruitt posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double performance to pace the Owls, who also go 11 rebounds from Bernard Moreno.

North Florida opened the game strong building a near double figure lead, 18-10, with nine minutes left in the first half. Ospreys got three consecutive three-pointers from Trent Mackey, Davenport and Beech to cap the early surge. The Ospreys would then suffer through a five-minute scoring drought as the Owls rallied, closing the half on a 17-6 run that saw KSU hold a 27-25 lead at the break.

"Our energy was great at the start of the game," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "We were getting stops on defense and making shots on offense and then for some reason we appeared to let up."

After trading baskets to start the second half, UNF scored 22 consecutive points as the Owls went scoreless from the floor (0-8 FGs) over the next eight minutes of play. In the decisive run, Nesbitt had 10 points including a pair of treys, a fastbreak dunk and a driving layup. Davenport grabbed several boards and made four free throws while Moore and Mackey both connected from long distance.

Orlando Coleman scored KSU's first seven points in the half to try and keep the Owls in the game but they would get no closer than 16 points over the final 10 minutes of play as the Ospreys earned the comfortable victory.

"Tonight's win was a total team effort," added Driscoll. "I thought our guys really played with a purpose, especially in the second half. I was very proud of how the guys responded and really stepped up their intensity and focus after the half. We really defended well in the second half and that allowed us to get things flowing on the offensive end as well."

Despite shooting just 37 percent from the floor for the game and being outrebounded 41-35, UNF forced 16 turnovers and turned them into 21 points and also held the Owls to only 35 percent shooting. In addition, the Ospreys drilled 10 three-pointers, marking the team's 16th game of the year with double figure treys.

North Florida closes the regular season with three of its final four games at home beginning Thursday against Lipscomb at 7 p.m. in UNF Arena.