@OspreyMBB Defense Dunks USC Upstate for 92-69 Victory in A-Sun Quarterfinal

Tuesday, March 1

Jacksonville, Fla.

7:30 p.m.

University of North Florida

USC Upstate (ASun Quarterfinal)

USC Upstate

North Florida

Photo by: Todd Drexler

@OspreyMBB Defense Dunks USC Upstate for 92-69 Victory in A-Sun Quarterfinal

3/2/2016 12:04:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Final Boxscore (pdf)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The top-seeded North Florida basketball team used a tenacious defense and a trio of 20-point scorers to dominate No.8-seed USC Upstate, 92-69, Tuesday night in quarterfinal action of the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament at UNF Arena.

The Ospreys (22-10) won their fourth straight game and improved to 14-1 at home this year while the Spartans end their campaign at 10-22 after falling to UNF in the conference tournament for the second consecutive year.

Dallas Moore, the recently named Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, led the way for the Ospreys finishing with 22 points and seven assists. Junior teammate Chris Davenport added 20 points and eight rebounds while A-Sun Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Trent Mackey, also chipped in 20 points, going 5-for-6 from the three-point line.

Senior Beau Beech contributed a double-double effort finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds and fellow senior Demarcus Daniels, the A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year, scored 12 points to give UNF five players in double digits on the night.

Mike Cunningham paced Upstate scoring 17 points including three treys. Michael Buchanan, who averaged 26 points per game against UNF during the regular season, was held to just 11 points on the evening.

North Florida won the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Spartans, 37-30, while also holding a 48-34 advantage on points in the paint. The Opsreys also converted 14 Upstate turnovers into 23 points while committing just six turnovers of their own.

"At this time of year, every play is critical," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "I thought the guys were extremely locked in especially defensively in the second half and that was truly the difference in the game. At the half, I challenged the team to step up on the defensive end and to their credit they really rose to the challenge. We are excited to be advancing and are now focused on the next game and having the opportunity to be 1-0 again."

The two squads traded the lead for several minutes at the start of the game before the Ospreys made a mini-surge midway through the period to take a double-digit lead. Upstate rallied and trimmed the margin to five points with just under four minutes left and kept things close with UNF owning a 47-40 lead at the intermission.

Both squads shot 57 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of play as the offenses were both running smoothly.

The Ospreys opened the second half on an 11-4 run, getting baskets from several different players, to widen their lead to 58-44 just three minutes into play. North Florida would maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the way as UNF's defense held the Spartans to just 37 percent shooting in the second half including going scoreless for the final three minutes of the game.

With his seven assists, Moore matched the program's single season mark with 195 while Mackey upped his season treys made total to 107, the third highest total in league history.

North Florida now advances to Thursday's semifinal matchup with No. 4 seed FGCU, a winner of No. 5 seed Kennesaw State on Tuesday. The Ospreys and Eagles will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. in UNF Arena with tickets available at ticket link on UNFOspreys.com or by calling 904-620-BIRD (2473).