OPENING TIP
Score: North Florida 66, Florida 98
Records: North Florida (2-5) | Florida (4-3)
Location: Exactech Arena (Gainesville, Fla.)
The Short Story: North Florida had four starters in double figures led by Noah Horchler's fourth double-double of the season, but it wasn't enough as Florida connected on 16 three-pointers to earn the 98-66 victory on Tuesday night in Gainesville,

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Noah Horchler paced the Ospreys with 16 points and 10 rebounds in recording his fourth double-double of the season
- Garrett Sams chipped in 15 points while Ivan Gandia-Rosa added 13 and JT Escobar finished with 11
- The Gators had six players reach double figures led by 18 from Noah Locke
- UF netted a season best 16 three-pointers with 9 different players making a trey w- hile hitting at a 57.1% clip
- Florida also boasted a 42-25 advantage on the glass and posted 26 assists

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- The two squads went back-and-forth over the opening six minutes of play with neither squad leading by more than a basket
- North Florida suffered a three minute scoring drought allowing Florida to go on an 11-0 spurt which was part of a 21-6 run that put the Gators in front 35-19 with just under 8 minutes left in the period
- The deficit remained the same until a pair of late turnovers for the Ospreys let UF close the half with the final five points en route to a 53-33 advantage at the break
- UF's bench provided the spark in the frame, outscoring UNF reserves, 31-3 in the first 20 minutes of play
  
Second Half Notes
- Florida extended their scoring streak to 10-0 after notching the first five points out of intermission
- Minutes later, the Ospreys trimmed the margin behind a 10-2 spurt sparked by a pair of treys from Gandia-Rosa
- The Gators responded by scoring 13 of the next 15 points and turned back any late charges by the Ospreys
- UNF's defense held Florida to 8 fewer points than the first half while matching its own first half production

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Ospreys fell to 0-8 all-time versus the Gators after facing their in-state foe for the fourth consecutive season
- Horchler has now posted a double-double in four of the six games he's played and is averaging a double-double for the season
- Escobar and Gandia-Rosa both made 3 treys on the night | Escobar now has 15 3PM in the last 3 games while Gandia-Rosa snapped an 0-9 stretch from the arc
- UNF has made 9 or more threes in each of the last three games #BirdsofTrey
- Game marked the end of a four-game road swing for North Florida and also opened a stretch of 3 games in 5 days
- Emmanuel Lambright made his season debut after missing the first six games due to an injury | Freshman Christian Schach made his collegiate debut for UNF

LAST WORD
"Once again we are living in spurts. It doesn't matter if you are playing Florida, Jacksonville State or whomever, you cannot live in spurts. You have to live and play with consistency The only way we can live in consistency is to have the discipline to sustain that and make sure that you are executing at that level. We have to rinse this game out quickly and turn it around similar to how the NBA schedule works. We play Thursday then we have to move past that and get ready to play again on Saturday. That's the blessing of this stretch. We have to go back tomorrow and figure out what we need to do to get ready for FAMU.on Thursday night." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida hosts Florida A&M on Thursday at 8 p.m. in UNF Arena. The game is just the second home tilt of the season for the Ospreys and is part of a doubleheader with the women's team (5:30 p.m. tipoff).