Sluggish Finish Costs Ospreys in Loss at Lipscomb

Saturday, February 10

Nashville, Tenn.

5 p.m.

University of North Florida

11-17, 5-6ASUN

Lipscomb

17-9, 7-4ASUN

North Florida

Lipscomb

Trip Day shoots a hook shot over the outstretched hand of a defender

Photo by: Todd Drexler

2/10/2018 9:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

OPENING TIP
Score: North Florida 75, Lipscomb 82
Records: North Florida (11-17, 5-6 ASUN) | Lipscomb (17-9, 7-4 ASUN)
Location: Allen Arena (Nashville, Tenn.)
The Short Story: The North Florida men's basketball team struggled at the end of both halves in a tough 82-75 loss at Lipscomb on Saturday night. Trip Day made 5 three-pointers on his way to a career best 22 point effort.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore PDF | Full Game Book

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Trip Day topped the 20-point mark for the first time in his career, scoring 22 points highlighted by making 5 treys
- Noah Horchler collected his ASUN leading 11th double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds
- Ivan Gandia-Rosa rounded out the group of double digit performers, finishing with 15 points

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- North Florida continued to start games quickly, scoring the first 9 points sparked by a 3PM by Horchler
- A mini 8-3 run later in the half pushed the Ospreys to their largest lead of the night, 25-13, with 11:23 left in the period
- The Ospreys maintained a near double-digit margin until the 5:00 mark
- Leading 35-25 at 4:52, UNF saw the Bisons battle back with a 14-4 spurt that included seven consecutive points to tie the score at the half, 39-39
- UNF made 7 treys led by 4 from Day

Second Half Notes
- Ospreys started the second period with a 10-4 surge, but Lipscomb responded with a 15-3 run of their own to flip a 6-point UNF advantage into a 6-point deficit
- Emmanuel Lambright sparked an 11-4 answering run by UNF that put the team back in front, 63-62 | Day added a pair of baskets in the surge along with a trey and two free throws from JT Escobar
- The scored seesawed between the two squads until a three-pointer by Noah Horchler put the Ospreys up 70-68 with 5:02 left to play
- Lipscomb would grab the momentum and the victory with a closing 14-5 rally
- Bisons made 4 FTs in the closing minute and also tipped in a missed FT to secure the win

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Lipscomb forced 18 turnvovers by the Ospreys that resulted in 20 points
- The Bisons also benefitted with 14 second chance points from 13 offensive rebounds
- North Florida finished with 11 3PM, marking the 16th game this season with double-figure treys
- Ospreys posted a season best 10 blocked shots, led by 4 for Horchler
- Loss snapped a four-game win streak for UNF against Lipscomb and was just the Bisons third victory in the last 17 meetings

LAST WORD
"We did a lot of good things but moral victories aren't something we believe in, that we coach or are a part of our culture. Anytime you have 18 turnovers that lead to 20 points in a game like this, battling for second place in the league, it makes it kind of hard to overcome. We did a lot of good things, but unfortunately we didn't complete it. Completing things has been one of our biggest issues. We've struggled completing the half or completing the game. Eventually, our group of inexperienced guys have to have that experience to be able to do that. Give Lipscomb credit for executing and doing things when they needed key buckets. It was an older, experienced team that knew what they were doing. We have to learn from this, grow from this and then move on." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida hosts their final regular season home games of the season against USC Upstate (Thursday) and NJIT (Saturday).