OPENING TIP
Score: North Florida 89, Florida National 81
Records: North Florida (1-1) | Florida National (Exhibtion)
Location: UNF Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
The Short Story: The North Florida men's basketball squad finished with 12 three-pointers and saw sophomore Carter Hendricksen score a career best 20 points in an 89-81 victory over a scrappy Florida National squad on Thursday night at UNF Arena.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Sophomore Carter Hendricksen netted 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds in 24 minutes of action
- Senior Wajid Aminu added 16 points and a team best 8 boards while Ivan Gandia-Rosa (15 pts) and Garrett Sams (10 pts) also reached double figures on the night
- Newcomer Josh Endicott led the Ospreys with 9 rebounds
- Florida National had a pair of players post 20+ point efforts, getting 25 from Kenneth Santos and 24 by Jeffrey Hernandez
- The Ospreys held a slim 41-38 advantage on the glass including a decisive 15-9 edge on the offensive end
- For the second straight game, UNF tallied a double-figure total for 3PM, hitting 12 on 32% shooting from the arc 
- North Florida's defense forced 17 turnovers and turned them into 19 points


HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- North Florida scored the opening seven points of the game with Ivan Gandia-Rosa capping the run with the squad's first trey of the night
- The Conquistadors fought back and closed the gap to two points on several occasions only to have UNF extend the lead back out
- FNU used a 6-0 spurt midway through the opening period to grab their first lead, 22-21, but Carter Hendricksen drilled back-to-back threes followed by a basket from Wajid Aminu in an 8-point surge for the Ospreys
- The visitors again battled back and tied the score twice in the closing minutes before UNF got baskets from Aminu and Hendricksen to end the half with a 38-35 lead
 
Second Half Notes
- Hendricksen sparked a quick start in the second half, dunking a pair of shots to extend the Osprey margin
- Florida National refused to go away and eventually built a 3-point lead of their own 55-52 with 14:27 left in the contest
- Ryan Burkhardt hit a three-pointer to tie the score followed by a trey from JT Escobar that switched the lead back to the Ospreys for the final time
- The Ospreys methodically began to build their lead which grew to as large as 14 (82-68) at the 5:58 mark
- UNF would maintain a near double digit margin en route to the home opening victory

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- North Florida extended its current home win streak to five games dating back to last season
- UNF improved to 10-1 in home openers under head coach Matthew Driscoll
- Ospreys moved to 4-0 all-time against Florida National and have won all 22 games under Driscoll against non-D1 opponents
- Eight different players recorded assists with five finishing with three each
- This marked the fourth consecutive season that UNF and FNU have battled on the hardwood
- Emmanuel Adedoyin scored his first collegiate points
- Aminu upped his career scoring total to 998 points, just two shy of becoming the program's 15th 1,000-Point scorer

LAST WORD
"Have to give credit to Florida National for the the way they competed until the end. Their top three players played 40 minutes and their top two scorers combined for 49 points in the game. Their point guard, who was like 5'3", had nine assists, nine rebounds and no turnovers in 40 minutes. I thought our guys may have been a little whacked out with the size of the other team. I thought we lacked cohesiveness and were out of sync with what we were doing the whole night. Not really sure the reasoning, but I do know Florida, Florida National, North Florida, it doesn't matter and anytime you worry about the name on the jersey its gonna be a long season. I'm positive that wasn't the issue for us but I won't know the reason until I watch the tape. We had JT, Garrett, Josh and Ryan go 1 for 19 in the first half, so our defense was great. We held them down and guarded well, but you have to make shots and make plays for each other. I thought we didn't do that as well as we could. I thought their energy and effort continually kept them in the game." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida continues its homestand when it hosts Georgia Southern Monday at 7 p.m. Military and their families get in for free in honor of Veteran's Day.