Sluggish Second Half Hurts Ospreys at ETSU

Saturday, January 26

Johnson City, Tenn.

4 pm

University of North Florida

-814, 36 ASun

ETSU

-615, 44 ASun

UNF

ETSU

Photo by: Todd Drexler

1/26/2013 6:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Final Box (pdf)
Game Book

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- In a tale of two halves, the North Florida basketball team struggled in the closing period as East Tennessee State rallied for a 89-75 victory on Saturday afternoon.

The Ospreys (8-14, 3-6 ASun) woes continued at ETSU despite shooting 68 percent in the first half and leading by 12 at the half. UNF slipped to 27 percent shooting in the second half in suffering their seventh straight loss in the Mini-dome. The Bucs (6-15, 4-4) managed a 60 percent performance in their frenetic second half come back outscoring UNF by 26 and making 21-24 free throws to secure the win.

Parker Smith finished with a team best 26 points including six of the squad's 10 three-pointers on the day. Andy Diaz added 13 while Beau Beech (11) and Travis Wallace (10) also reached double figures.

Hunter Harris scored 25, with 19 in second half, to pace a quartet of Bucs in double digits.

"It's a battle every game in this conference and no lead is safe," said UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll. "I thought we played really aggressive in the first half on both ends of the floor and I'm not sure why we couldn't sustain it in the second half. Give ETSU some credit for changing things up defensively and affecting the flow of the game with their physical play. It was a physical game the whole way, ETSU just converted and made plays better in the second half. We are not going to give up and we are going to continue to work hard and make improvements."

After allowing ETSU to score the first four points of the game, North Florida raced back scoring the next 17 points to build the early lead. Defensively, the Ospreys held the Bucs scoreless for nearly five minutes of action. UNF maintained a double digit lead the rest of the half as the Ospreys made 15 of 22 field goals including six for eight from long distance. North Florida led 45-33 at the break.

The Bucs roared out the gates to start the second half outscoring the Ospreys, 12-4, over the first five minutes of play. ETSU continued to chip away at the UNF lead taking advantages of some missed shots and costly turnovers. In the midst of a 14-2 surge, the Bucs claimed their first lead of the game, 60-57, on a three-pointer from Rashawn Rembert with 9:41 left in the game.

ETSU would not give the lead back eventually building the margin to double digits. Despite some late game treys from the Ospreys, the Bucs were solid at the free throw line down the stretch making 10 of 11 in the final two minutes to thwart any final comeback for UNF.

North Florida returns home for a pair of games to open up the second half of the league slate beginning Thursday against Florida Gulf Coast at 7 p.m. in UNF Arena.