Men's Basketball Clinches Road Win at Kennesaw State, 82-81

Friday, February 16

Kennesaw, Ga.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

15-13,8-5ASUN

Kennesaw State

14-13,5-8ASUN

North Florida

Kennesaw St.

Jaylen Smith shooting from the free-throw line against Central Arkansas

2/16/2024 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Lanier Wins Game with Last Minute And-One, Drops 26 Points

KENNESAW, Ga. - North Florida men's basketball (15-13, 8-5) completed a season sweep over Kennesaw State (14-13, 5-8), as Chaz Lanier hit the game winning and-one to lift the Ospreys to an 82-81 victory on Friday night.

The game came down to the last play as Lanier drove in for the game-winning score on top of his 26 point performance. Oscar Berry notched a career-high five assists, with Dorian James pacing the teams in rebounds with seven. Lliteras scored double-digit points for the 13th game in a row, scoring 10 or more in every conference game.

UNF 82, KSU 81

RECORDS
North Florida | 15-13, 8-5 ASUN
Kennesaw State | 14-13, 5-8 ASUN

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
First Half
Jasai Miles got the Ospreys on the board first with Dorian James finding him for three … Jaylen Smith would then find Lanier for the alley-oop to put the Ospreys ahead early … Nate Lliteras drove in a layup on the fastbreak before notching a steal and his first trey of the game … Jake van der Heijden grabbed his first points from beyond the arc on a pass from Lanier … Lanier then drained his first three of the affair giving the Ospreys a 16-12 advantage … Kennesaw would tie things up, but Jah Nze sank a three to put UNF back in front … Oscar Berry would find Lanier on the fastbreak who let it fly from three to extend the advantage … Lanier pulled up for his third three from deep, followed by threes from van der Heijden and Berry to close out the half with the Ospreys ahead 40-37.

Second Half
Lliteras got off to a hot start in the second with back-to-back treys … a back-and-forth would ensue between the two teams with Kennesaw tying the game at 48 apiece before Nze hit three free-throws from the charity stripe … layups from Nze and Lliteras would put the Ospreys back in front … Berry found James for a layup before Lanier hit yet another trey to keep UNF ahead by two … Berry would find James yet again, but this time for a slam dunk … James hit a second-chance layup before Lliteras drained another three to take his total to 16 … Smith and Miles secured makes to give the Ospreys a six-point lead … Lanier drove to the rim with a thunderous dunk followed by a driving layup from James and another bucket for Lanier … the Owls would take a two-point lead with 45 seconds to go before Lanier won the game for the Ospreys with a game clinching and-one to give UNF the 82-81 victory.

LEADERS BY THE NUMBERS
UNF
Chaz Lanier | 26 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
Nate Lliteras | 16 points, 5 rebounds
Dorian James | 11 points, 7 rebounds

KSU
Demond Robinson | 22 points, 12 rebounds
Terrell Burden | 15 points, 8 assists
Quincy Ademokoya | 13 points, 6 rebounds

COACH'S THOUGHTS

.@UNFBBALL talks through the road dub at Kennesaw State!#BirdsOfTrey pic.twitter.com/jI3AAefPLR
— UNF Men's Basketball (@OspreyMBB) February 17, 2024

NOTES

Berry recorded a career-high five assists
James, Smith and Miles combined for 19 rebounds
Lliteras continued his streak of double-digit scoring in every conference game so far
Lanier, Nze and van der Heijden all were perfect from the charity stripe
Lanier now has 14 games with over 20 points, including ten of 13 games so far in ASUN play.

UP NEXT
North Florida concludes its road trip with the 43rd edition of the River City Rumble at Swisher Gymnasium, Friday Feb. 23 with tipoff set for 7 p.m.