The University of North Florida men’s basketball team hosted their first-ever in-season tournament at UNF Arena this past week, where they won two of three games.
The team kicked off the tournament with a double-digit, 81-69 loss to Presbyterian on Thursday. Despite a six-point lead at halftime, the Ospreys were outscored by 18 points.
This game was odd from the beginning as the Ospreys took 17 more shots than the Blue Hose and still lost by 12 points. UNF struggled to make buckets all game, as the Ospreys shot a horrid 22-70 from the field. Most teams sink over or near 40% from the field, not the 31.4% made by UNF. Even so, six players were able to score double-digits.
But they didn’t have much time to drown in the sorrows of a blown game. The Ospreys took the court just a day later to face a struggling, yet hungry Northwestern State Demons squad.
The Ospreys held another single-digit halftime advantage, leading 36-32 at the break. They didn’t quite pull away in the second half but still outscored the Demons, snatching their first tournament win with an 80-74 final score.
North Florida shot a much better clip of 29-62 (46.7%) from the court with an impressive 12-30 from three. Junior Chaz Lanier and sophomore Jah Nze each led the team with 17 points that night.
Now, there was one game left before the finals and the Ospreys sat at 1-1 in the round-robin tournament. That last game would be against the Maine Black Bears who were 2-0 in the invitation so far.
North Florida took that opportunity to defend their home court, wrestling away the win and hoisting the First Coast Classic crown.
UNF opened that game with their best start of the tournament, leading Maine 38-28 at halftime. Though they bent, they did not break.
With help from Lanier, who has now scored double digits in every game this season, including a 21-point performance against Maine, the Ospreys defeated the Black Bears 67-58.
UNF finished the tournament 2-1, improving to a 4-2 record on the season.
But the games don’t stop. UNF will continue their non-conference schedule later this week when they travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to face the LSU Tigers. Tip-off is Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. and fans can stream the game on ESPN+.
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