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University of North Florida Athletics

Beech_15-ASTg1
ASUN Photos
67
Stetson STET 9-22
81
Winner North Florida UNF 21-11
Stetson STET
9-22
67
Final
81
North Florida UNF
21-11
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Stetson STET 28 39 67
North Florida UNF 45 36 81

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | North Florida Athletics

#BirdsofTrey: Ospreys Hit 14 Three-Pointers in Quarterfinal Win over Stetson

Final Boxscore (pdf)
Game Book

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The No. 1 seeded North Florida basketball team used 14 three-pointers and shot 53 percent from the field en route to advancing to the semifinal round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament with an 81-67 victory over No. 8 seeded Stetson at UNF Arena.

The Ospreys, who won their sixth consecutive game, improved to 21-11 on the season with their impressive showing against the Hatters, who finish the year 9-22. The win marked just the second time that UNF has opened A-Sun tournament play with a victory and also extended their current win streak to eight games over Stetson.

Junior Beau Beech led the way for UNF finishing with 19 points including five three-pointers and moved to within one point of becoming the Ospreys' 10th 1,000-point scorer. Beech, who also pulled down 10 rebounds marking his third double-double in the last four games, now has 999 career points.

Sophomore Dallas Moore added 16 points in the win for UNF with Trent Mackey and Chris Davenport each chipping in 12 points. Mackey, the A-Sun three-point leader, was a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc. Jalen Nesbitt handed out a team best six assists while A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year, Demarcus Daniels pulled down a team-leading 11 boards and blocked three shots,to set a new UNF single season record for blocks with 50.

Kentwan Smith and Divine Myles each scored 19 points for the Hatters, who shot 42 percent from the floor but struggled from long range going 4-16 on trey tries.

"I'm proud of our guys and how well they played in this new experience of hosting a tournament game," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "I thought we started a little slow but then got cooking and were making shots and defending well. We were really flowing midway through the second half and then we sort of took our foot off the gas pedal and that is probably my fault for some lineup decisions I made. We also hurt ourselves with nine turnovers down the stretch, but give Stetson credit for continuing to battle as well. Fortunately, we had built a big lead and were able to make the plays we needed to make to secure the win and advance in the tournament. We have to turn attention to the next game and try to be 1-0 again."

The two squads kept things close early in the first half with both teams holding a lead. The Ospreys broke open a 14-14 tie with an 19-4 run over a six minute span and then carried a 45-28 lead into the halftime break. UNF was hot from long range making nine treys in the opening 20 minutes of play.

The Ospreys would continue their strong shooting to start the second half as Beech and Davenport sparked a 14-4 spurt with back-to-back treys. The run also included a pair of acrobatic driving layups from Moore and a jumper from Romelo Banks. UNF would keep the pressure on and build their largest lead of the night, 67-37, after a Mackey trey with 13:02 remaining.

The Hatters responded with a 12-0 run to close the gap and continued chipping away until finally getting as close as 12 points in the closing minutes of play.

North Florida now advances to host No. 5 seed Lipscomb on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Bisons edged No. 4 Northern Kentucky 76-73 in overtime.
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