@OspreyMBB Dominate NJIT in 107-71 Victory

Thursday, February 18

Jacksonville, Fla.

7:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

19-10, 8-4ASUN

107

NJIT

16-12, 7-5ASUN

NJIT

North Florida

107

Photo by: Morgan Purvis

2/18/2016 11:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Daniels has career high 25, Moore becomes All-Time Scoring Leader

By: North Florida Athletics

Final Boxscore (pdf)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Highlighted by some historic accomplishments, the North Florida basketball dismantled Atlantic Sun co-leader NJIT for a 107-71 victory Thursday night at UNF Arena.

The Ospreys (19-10, 8-4 ASun) shot a season high 68 percent from the field (39-of-57) including 17 three-pointers in addition to posting the first 100-point game for UNF against an Atlantic Sun foe. North Florida hit the century mark for the fourth time this season and the 36-point victory was the largest margin in an ASun contest. The win also snapped a four-game skid for the Ospreys.

Senior Demarcus Daniels finished with a career best 25 points featuring a personal high four treys while junior Dallas Moore finished with 21 points along with a career high 11 assists. Moore also made history becoming the program's all-time leading scorer on a driving layup with 8:22 left in the first half. The basket gave him 1,514 points and moved him past UNF Hall of Famer, Koran Godwin (1,513 points).

NJIT, who had entered the game on five-game win streak, dropped to 16-12 overall and 7-5 in conference play with the loss. The Highlanders fell a game behind in the standings to UNF and Jacksonville and into a tie for second with FGCU. NJIT plays at JU on Saturday night.

The two teams went back-and-forth over the opening several minutes of play before an 8-0 run by the Ospreys allowed them to take a lead they would never relinquish. Daniels sparked the spurt with a layup and three-pointer and the run was capped by the first of three treys for Aaron Bodager.

A 22-3 spurt over a five-minute span midway through the half allowed UNF to build a 20-point margin. The Osprey defense limited the Highlanders to just 25 points on 30 percent (8-26) shooting in the half, while UNF finished the first period shooting 70 percent and topped 50 points for the third time in four halves against NJIT. North Florida owned a 53-25 advantage at intermission.

"I thought we played with some hunger tonight," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "When we defend like we are capable of we are an extremely good team and hard to beat. I thought our defensive effort was the key for us tonight. We need continue to stay focused and do what we do as we prepare for each game. I was proud of the determination and focus the team played with tonight."

In the second half, North Florida continued his dominant play as UNF never allowed the Highlanders to pull closer than 24 points and actually pushed their lead to 40 points, 100-60, late in the half.

UNF outrebounded NJIT, 35-27, and also dished out 27 assists. Daniels, the career leader in blocked shots for the Ospreys, added three of the team's five for the night while also collecting three steals. Chris Davenport scored 17 points for UNF while Bodager chipped in 11. NJIT was led by 16 points from Chris Jenkins.

North Florida closes out the home portion of its regular season schedule Saturday against USC Upstate at 7 p.m. UNF's senior class of Daniels, Beau Beech, Trent Mackey and Ismaila Dauda will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony. The game has also been designated a "Blue Out" game with fans encouraged to wear blue.