Escobar's Seven Treys Elevates Ospreys to 80-77 Win Against Georgia Southern

Monday, November 11

Jacksonville, Fla.

7:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

2-1,0-0ASUN

Georgia Southern

1-2,0-0Sun Belt

Team	1	2	F
Ga. Southern	33	44	77
North Florida	41	39	80

JT Escobar shoots a jumper over the hand of a defender

Photo by: Todd Drexler

Escobar's Seven Treys Elevates Ospreys to 80-77 Win Against Georgia Southern

11/11/2019 10:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

OPENING TIP
Score: North Florida 80, Georgia Southern 77
Records: North Florida (2-1) | Georgia Southern (1-2)
Location: UNF Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
The Short Story: Hot shooting from beyond the arc and key defensive efforts help propel the North Florida men's basketball squad to an 80-77 victory against Georgia Southern on Monday night at UNF Arena.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Senior JT Escobar finished with a season high 23 points highlighted by a blistering 7-of-8 shooting (87.5%) performance from the three-point line
- Fellow senior Garrett Sams added a 20-point effort, making three treys while senior Ivan Gandia-Rosa chippped in 17 points and 6 assists
- Sophomore Carter Hendricksen earned his first career double-double after scoring 12 points and hauling down a career high 17 rebounds
- Georgia Southern was led by 31 points from Isaiah Crawley
- Ospreys overcame 24 turnovers resulting in 24 points for GS, while also forcing 16 miscues by the Eagles
- North Florida connected on 15 of 28 three-point attempts (53.6%) as a team
- Hendricksen's yeomans performance helped lead UNF to a 48-33 rebounding advantage
- UNF held a lead for almost 37 minutes of play, while Georgia Southern was in front for less than a minute

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- North Florida raced out to the early 10-2 lead as all three of the squad's opening buckets were from long distance capped by a four-point play for Garrett Sams
- Georgia Southern responded with a 10-2 run of their own to force a tie at 12-12
- UNF answered with back-to-back treys for JT Escobar and Ryan Burkhardt
- Sams mounted a seven-point spurt of his own minutes later to widen the Osprey margin to double figures (28-18)
- The Eagles rallied with a 13-3 surge to secure another knotted score of 31-31
- The Osprey defense closed the half on a mission, holding GS to just two points over the final five minutes of the period as UNF built a 41-33 halftime lead

Second Half Notes
- Escobar remained hot to open the second half as his three-pointer was the Osprey's only points in a 10-3 run compiled by Georgia Southern in the first three minutes
- Ivan Gandia-Rosa scored six points in an 11-2 spurt for UNF as the lead widened back to double digits, 55-45
- The Eagles would make a final charge, netting 11 straight points to seize their first lead of the night, 56-55, at the 11:27 mark
- After the squads traded baskets, North Florida slowly began to expand its lead
- GS would cut the deficit to a single possession in the closing minutes but each time the Ospreys answered with three-pointers from Escobar and Gandia-Rosa
- Leading by one, 78-77, with 12 seconds left to play, Gandia-Rosa extended the lead to three with a pair of free throws
- Calvin Wishart's tying three-point attempt at the buzzer came up short as Hendricksen grabbed his final board to secure the win

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- North Florida remained undefeated at home (2-0) this season and extended its current home win streak to six games
- Ospreys moved to 2-0 all-time against Georgia Southern
- Wajid Aminu's free throws with 2:46 remaining in the game, marked his 1,000th career point and made him the program's 14th all-time player to reach that plateau
- Hendricksen's 17 rebounds marked the fifth highest total in Osprey history and was tied for the second highest mark in Division I era
- Escobar's 7 treys were one shy of his single season personal best

LAST WORD
"It is great to see our guys persevere and overcome some challenges. We didn't close out or finish the way a senior-laden team or team with the expectations that we have should. Give Georgia Southern credit because they never quit, but we were very, very haphazard. We came into the game having talked a lot, walked through a lot and simplified a lot and when we executed, we were able to get wide open threes. Down the stretch, we executed tremendously and got some good looks for several different guys. We also got to the free throw line and knocked those down. Congratulation to Wajid (Aminu) for becoming another guy to join our 1,000-Point Club. It was a great team effort and situation. Against a team with a lot of good shooters on the floor, I thought our zone worked really well for the entirety of the game. " -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida welcomes Southern Miss on Thursday for the squad's third straight home contest. The Ospreys and Golden Eagles are set to tip off at 7 p.m.