Dolphins Slip Past Ospreys in ASUN Opener

Saturday, January 6

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

0-16-12 | ASUN

Jacksonville

1-07-11 | ASUN

Jacksonville

North Florida

Photo by: Todd Drexler

1/6/2018 10:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Photo Gallery

OPENING TIP
Score: North Florida 86, Jacksonville 90
Records: North Florida (6-12, 0-1 ASUN) | Jacksonville (7-11, 1-0 ASUN)
Location: UNF Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
The Short Story: In a rivalry game that teetered back-and-forth, the North Florida men's basketball team dropped a tough 90-86 decision to Jacksonville in Saturday's ASUN Conference opener at UNF Arena. Trip Day led the way for the Ospreys with 19 points off the bench.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore PDF | Full Game Book

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Trip Day scored a career high 19 pts (8-9 FGM) to lead a quartet of Ospreys in double digits
- JT Escobar finished with 18 followed by 14 from Osborn Blount and 13 by Ivan Gandia-Rosa
- Noah Horchler narrowly missed a double-double tallying 8 points and 10 rebounds
- Jacksonville saw 4 of 5 starters reach double figures led by 25 from JD Notae and 22 by Jalyn Hinton | Jace Hogan chipped in an 18 point-11 rebound double-double
- Team's combined for 112 points (JU - 58 | UNF - 54) in the paint

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- Ospreys raced out to the quick 7-2 lead in the opening minutes before JU answered with an 8-2 surge of their own to grab their first lead
- The two squads traded the lead six times in the first seven minutes of play
- Osborn Blount capped off a 6-point spurt for UNF with back-to-back layups
- Minutes later, JT Escobar scored six points in an 8-0 run, hitting a three-pointer and completing a three-point play to give Ospreys a double-digit advantage
- North Florida maintained a lead over the final 8 minutes of the half with JU able to get no closer than 7 points
- UNF owned a 52-42 lead at intermission
- Reigning ASUN Freshman of the Year and preseason Defensive Player of the Year, Wajid Aminu left the game with 1:12 left in the period with an apparent ankle injury (had 9 pts/6 rebs)

Second Half Notes
- Jacksonville turned the tide on UNF, starting the second period with a 22-7 run that included a stretch of 13 consecutive points
- Ospreys went scoreless for a little over four minutes, missing six shots and committing a pair of turnovers
- JU pushed its lead to five, 70-65, with 9:39 remaining in the game
- UNF rallied over the next three minutes, scoring 13 straight points to grab an 8-point advantage, 78-70
- Day scored 7 points during the run along with treys from Gandia-Rosa and Blount
- Emmanuel Lambright sparked the Osprey defense during the spurt collecting a career best 3 blocked shots
- North Florida led 82-74 with just under four minutes remaining
- A 10-2 run by the Dolphins tied the score at 84 with 1:58 on the clock
- The teams traded layups for a final tie before Hinton netted the final four points of the game for JU including a pair of game icing free throws with 12 ticks left
- JU shot 55% from the floor and outrebounded UNF by 9 in the half

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Day notched his fifth consecutive double digit scoring performance (Averaging 14.8 PPG)
- Horchler posted his fifth game with double figure rebounds
- Blount set a new personal high in ASUN play
- Marked first loss for UNF to JU since Feb. 15, 2013 | Snapped a nine-game win streak in the River City Rumble
- 52 points output in first half marked the third time this year that UNF has topped 50-point mark in the opening 20 minutes
- First time this season that UNF has lost after leading at the half
- Marked the 10th game in the UNF-JU series decided by 5 points or less and the 4th time in the last 5 meetings

LAST WORD
"It was one of those typical games like we played against Jacksonville the last few years. It came down to a one possession game again. Gotta give them credit. They fought back like we fought back. We took the lead then they took the lead. In the the second half, we got down and looked like it could have gone the other way and our guys kept fighting and retook the lead late. They got some great play from freshmen (JD) Notae and (Jayln) Hinton, who combined for 47 points. They made a lot of toughness plays that really made the difference. We weren't able to make the ones we needed to make when we had to have them. When the game was at it's critical point, they made the bid plays and we just came up short." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida continues its current home stand hosting Lipscomb on Thursday (Jan. 11) at 7 p.m.