Second Half Rally Comes Up Short in Loss to Lions

Friday, January 29

Jacksonville, Fla.

7:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

6-11,4-3ASUN

North Alabama

10-3,6-1ASUN

North Ala.

North Florida

Photo by: Todd Drexler

1/29/2021 10:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Jose Placer scores career high 31

By: North Florida Athletics

OPENING TIP
Score: North Alabama 82, North Florida 78
Records: North Florida (6-11, 4-3 ASUN) | North Alabama (10-3, 6-1 ASUN)
Location: UNF Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
The Short Story: Despite a career high 31 points from Jose Placer, a second half rally by North Florida game up just short in a hard fought 82-78 loss to North Alabama, Friday night in UNF Arena

BY THE NUMBERS
- Jose Placer led the way for UNF with 31 points going 12 for 22 from the floor and making a trio of treys | Also paced the squad with 4 assists
- Ryan Burkhardt drilled 4 three-pointers for his 12 point performance while Emmanuel Adedoyin finished with 11 points as the other Osprey in double figures
- Jonathan Aybar was the top rebounder for the Ospreys, pulling down 7 in the contest
- North Alabama had all five starters in double digits paced by 19 for Mervin James | Emanuel Littles recorded a double-double with 10 pts/10 rebs
- UNA went 25 of 30 from the FT line while North Florida was just 13 of 17 at the charity stripe

NOTABLE MOMENTS
- North Florida was hindered by a slow start to the game, as North Alabama raced out to an 11-1 lead just three minutes into the action
- Jose Placer accounted for 8 of UNF's first 9 points of the game
- The Lions lead would hover around double digits for much of the first half but a three-pointer from Jacob Crews and a pair of Placer free throws allowed the Ospreys to close the period with the final five points, cutting the deficit to 38-31 at intermission
- An 11-6 spurt to open the second half by UNA, extended the margin back to 12 points
- Trailing 54-42, North Florida mounted an 11-2 surge highlighted by a three from Ryan Burkhardt and capped by four points for Carter Hendricksen, trimming the margin to 3 with just under 12 minutes remaining
- After North Alabama pushed the lead back to 9 at 67-58, the Ospreys roared back to grab their first lead of the night following a 16-5 run | Placer accounted for 8 of the points in the run that also included a pair of treys for Burkhardt and a layup by Dorian James that made the score 74-72
- UNA closed the game by outscoring UNF, 10-4 to turn back to home team charge

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Placer became the first Osprey player with 30+ points since Ivan Gandia-Rosa netted 30 at Lipscomb (1/25/20)
- Win marked the first for UNA against the Ospreys and snapped a five-game losing skid vs UNF
- UNF won the turnover battle for just the second time this season, forcing 17 UNA miscues while only committing 13 of their own
- The Lions claimed the rebounding advantage, 34-25
- Ospreys recorded a season low 6 assists

LAST WORD - Head Coach Matthew Driscoll
"When you start the game down 11-3 and then let the opponent start the second half 11-6, that's a 22-9 deficit. To their credit, playing for first place seemed to created a whole lot more purpose for them. They were certainly the aggressor for parts of this game. When a team makes more free throws than you attempt that is also a reflection of who was the more aggressive team. Give North Alabama credit for playing that way. However, something about the teams we've coached here over the past 12 years is that we're never gonna quit fighting, stop competing or keep trying to figure things out. We ended up taking the lead by two with a couple minutes to play but they had a couple guys make some big shots and we weren't able to get the defensive stop we needed the rest of the half. Great fight and great comeback. Jose (Placer) is obviously a special player but it wasn't enough. We have to find a way to start better so we don't have to dig out of holes."

NEXT UP
North Florida and North Alabama will face off in the weekend rematch at 5 p.m., Saturday in UNF Arena.