Final Boxscore (pdf)

JACKSONVILLE – The North Florida basketball team never trailed in claiming their fifth straight victory over crosstown rival Jacksonville with an 83-68 decision Saturday night at UNF Arena in front of a River City Rumble record crowd of 5,807.

The Ospreys (13-6, 2-0 ASun) extended their home win streak to 15 games while handing the Dolphins (8-10, 0-1) the conference opening loss. UNF has now won eight of the last 10 meetings between the rivals.

Senior Demarcus Daniels led the charge for the Ospreys matching a career high with 22 points, while also pulling down 10 rebounds for the first double-double of his career. Chris Davenport also tallied a double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds. UNF also got double digit performances from Dallas Moore (13), Nick Malonga (13) and Aaron Bodager (11). 

JU's Kori Babineaux led all scorers with 30 points after taking 29 of the Dolphins' 66 shots in the game.

For the game, North Florida shot 51 percent from the floor while holding JU to just 39 percent including a 4-21 (19 percent) effort from long distance. UNF upped its nation-leading total for three-pointers made to 234 after connecting on 12 in the contest. Six different Ospreys hit a trey with Malonga and Bodager each making three to lead the barrage.

"We guarded extremely well tonight," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "I felt like our preparation was the difference in the game. We had some great practices earlier this week and the guys executed our game plan. This group is really special. It was also an amazing atmosphere with the crowd and their support."

The Ospreys got rolling early scoring the first seven points while holding the Dolphins off the scoreboard for nearly four minutes of play. UNF's defense held JU to just 22 points on 27 percent shooting from the field including going 0-9 from the three-point arc. North Florida led 33-22 at the break.

After Moore completed a three-point play to open the second half, JU answered with a 15-2 run capped by a pair of three-pointers by Darius Dawkins to pull within one point, 38-37, with 15:47 left in the game.

Moore then hit a pair of free throws sparking an 11-2 answer by the Ospreys that pushed the lead back to double digits for good as UNF maintained a comfortable advantage the remainder of the game.

Senior Trent Mackey collected the 1,000th point of his collegiate career after hitting a three-pointer in the second half.

North Florida continues its current home stand Thursday (Jan. 14) against Lipscomb at 7 p.m.