AUBURN, Ala. -- The North Florida men's basketball team opened up their 25th season of play Friday night with a hard-fought 83-66 loss at Auburn. Junior Romelo Banks led the way for UNF posting his first career double-double.

Banks, who made his return to the lineup after missing last season following ankle surgery, finished with 16 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. His strong performance on the inside allowed the Ospreys to claim a 42-36 advantage in rebounding.

For the game, UNF shot 38 percent from the field while Auburn connected at a 41 percent clip. The Tigers made 10 three-pointers in the opening half, the third highest total in a half in program history, en route to leading 49-30 at the break. AU finished with 13 treys as the Osprey defense stiffened in the second half, holding the Tigers to 3 of 15 shooting from long distance. 

The Ospreys struggled finding consistency on either end of the floor as the squad committed 28 turnovers and was whistled for 30 fouls. UNF did outscore the Tigers in the second half, 36-34, in cutting a 30-point deficit to the final margin of 17.

North Florida continues its busy opening week of play on Monday with their home debut against Edward Waters at 7 p.m. in UNF Arena. The Ospreys will play four games in the first eight days of the season.

Top Performances
Romelo Banks - 16 pts, 10 rebs, 6-9 FGM
Garrett Sams - 11 pts, 6 rebs, 1 steal
Aaron Bodager - 9 pts (3-7 3PM), 6 rebs

Quotable...
"It's a tough game on the road when two of your top players aren't having their best games. I was proud of the way our guys kept battling and did not fold in the second half because the game could have easily gotten out of hand. Give Auburn credit for being able to make a run late in the first half that provided them with some separation. We had way too many turnovers, which is not something we've had issues with the last couple of seasons so we will definitely need to address that and get it cleaned up. Romelo was a beast tonight and showed how dominating he can be on the floor. We were also able to get some quality minutes and performances from many of our new guys. Moving forward, we just have to keep working and find ways to make sure that Dallas and Chris get into a groove. We are going to have to learn on the run because our schedule has us playing lots of games in the next week without much time to practice." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

Noteworthy
- Romelo Banks notched his first career double-double... His 16 points marked just the 8th double-digit scoring outing of his career
- Freshman Garrett Sams netted double-digits (11 points) in his collegiate debut
- 4 players made their UNF debuts in the game: Sams, Wajid Aminu, Aaron Horne, CJ Fisher
- 11 Ospreys saw action in the game with 9 players getting into the scoring column
- Dallas Moore finished with 5 points, snapping an 8-game streak with double-digit points
- Ospreys fall to 0-15 all-time against SEC teams (will play 3 more league members this season)
- Auburn broke open a 19-19 tie by finishing the first half on a 30-11 run including a 13-3 surge over final 4 minutes
- Tigers also opened the 2nd half with a 12-2 spurt to build a 30-point margin
- UNF outscored AU, 26-16, over final 12 minutes of game highlighted by a 12-3 run
- At times during game, Osprey lineup featured 4 freshmen on the floor