OPENING TIP
Score: North Florida 66, Southern Mississippi 63
Records: North Florida (3-1) | Southern Mississippi (1-2)
Location: UNF Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
The Short Story: Backed by another double-digit three-point performance, the North Florida men's basketball team claimed a third consecutive home win Thursday night after outlasting Southern Mississippi, 66-63.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Senior Ivan Gandia-Rosa netted a team high 17 points including a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to secure the victory | Gandia-Rosa also dished out 7 assists
- Sophomore Carter Hendricksen added 15 points and just missed a double-double after pulling down eight rebounds
- Freshman Emmanuel Adedoyin tallied a season high 12 points while senior Wajid Aminu chipped in eight points and eight boards
- The Golden Eagles had four players reach double figures led by 13 points each by Tyler Stevenson and Artur Konontsuk
- The Ospeys were outrebounded 42-32 but were able to force 16 turnovers
- UNF collected 11 three-pointers while holding USM to just three treys on the night
- After making just 1 of their first 8 free throws, North Florida closed out the game by making six in a row


HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- The Ospreys eased out to an early lead, 9-2, boosted by a pair of threes from Carter Hendricksen and another triple by JT Escobar
- North Florida maintained its lead until a scoring drought of over three minutes allowed the Golden Eagles to make a surge | USM capitalized on the Ospey's scoreless span with a 12-0 run that put the visitors in front, 22-15
- Dorian James hit a basket to halt the USM rally and following a trade of baskets, Ivan Gandia-Rosa drilled a trey to spark a 10-0 run by the Ospreys which included three baskets by Wajid Aminu and a second triple by Gandia-Rosa
- USM answered with six straight points before Hendricksen closed the half with a three-pointer at the buzzer to give UNF a slim 35-34 halftime advantage
 
Second Half Notes
- James connected on his first career trey early in the second half as the Ospreys widened their lead
- A 9-2 spurt by the Golden Eagles over the next few minutes saw them regain the lead 43-32
- Ryan Burkhardt drilled a three followed by eight straight points from Emmanuel Adedoyin including back-to-back treys pushed the North Florida margin to double digits for the first time on the night
- UNF would hold a comfortable lead until a late 10-2 rally cut the difference to a single point, 62-61, with 0:16 showing on the clock
- Adedoyin was fouled and calmly made a pair of free throws to up the lead back to three before USM made a pair from the charity stripe with six ticks on the clock
- Gandia-Rosa would drop in two more free throws with four seconds remaining and the Golden Eagles would not be able to get a final shot attempt off

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- North Florida remained undefeated at home (3-0) this season and extended its current home win streak to seven games
- Ospreys moved to 3-0 all-time against Southern Mississippi and will face USM again on Dec. 14 in Hattiesburg, Miss.
- North Florida, who ranks third in the nation for 3PM, posted a double-digit total for the fourth straight contest
- Head coach Matthew Driscoll announced that redshirt sophomore Emmanuel Lambright would be retiring from playing following recurring injuries, Lambright plans to get married in December and will graduate from UNF in the summer of 2020
- Dorian James earned his first career start

LAST WORD
"I can't be more proud of our guys from the stance of how they really took to heart how important it is to be for your teammates. Sometimes too many people, especially young people, get caught up with the 'with' as opposed to the 'for' them. We talked a lot about that concept tonight and making sure that we had each other's backs. We did the things necessary for us to be victorious. It was another game when we did not play great offensively. I thought we missed a lot of open shots that we made in other games and that the guys are capable of making. However, defense and rebounding have been the things we preached and our DER was once again great, tonight it was a .85, which is phenomenal. The way we kept guys in front of us defensively and how we contested shots early on really got us going. To our guys credit, we executed special situations down the stretch. Really proud of our guys going 6-for-6 from the free throw line to close the game. That's what we have to do in games against upper echelon teams. I'm really proud of our week and where we are right now and we are ready to turn our attention to preparing for Monday night." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida wraps up its four-game home stand on Monday as the Ospreys welcome in-town foe Trinity Baptist. Following that tilt, UNF plays four straight on the road and 11 of its next 12 away from UNF Arena.