The No. 1 seed University of North Ospreys’ explosive offense was too much for the No. 8 seed Stetson Hatters with an 81-67 victory on Tuesday night, March 3 at the UNF Arena. This victory in the Quarterfinals of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship is yet another step in the right direction for the Ospreys, as they strive to make school history.

In front of an energized home crowd, the Ospreys (21-11) were on fire from behind the arc with 14 three pointers on the night. After a slow start, Dallas Moore, UNF’s starting sophomore guard, led the charge with 16 points. Moore went 7-12 from the field. Beau Beech, UNF’s starting junior guard, scored 19 points going 7-14 from the field with 5 three pointers. Trent Mackey, UNF’s junior guard, went lights out from behind the arc connecting all four of his three pointers. During the first half, Mackey would take a hard fall and leave for a short while before returning to pick up where he left off.

The Osprey’s defensive was led by starting forward Demarcus Daniels, junior, who cleaned up the boards with a total of 11 rebounds for the night. Beech also contributed a fair share of rebounds, pulling in 10 for the night.

“I thought we started a little bit flat but then I thought we got cooking,” Ospreys’ Head Coach Matthew Driscoll said. “To these guys credit, they really did a great job doing that.”

After being down by 30 points, the Hatters (9-22) would cut the Ospreys’ lead to 12 in the second half. Divine Myles, Stetson’s starting freshman guard, ignited the Hatters’ comeback scoring 19 points in the effort. Early in the second half, Cameron Harvey, Stetson’s starting redshirt sophomore guard, left the game after a knee injury following a scramble for a loose ball. Kentwan Smith, Stetson’s starting senior forward, took up the slack for the Hatters scoring 19 points as well.

“We fought, we kept fighting and we fought to the very end,” Stetson’s Head Coach Corey Williams said about his team’s efforts in their final game this season. “Sometimes you can fight a good fight and your fight still is not good enough.”

The Ospreys advance to the semifinals this Thursday, March 5 against the No. 5 seed Lipscomb Bisons. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the UNF Arena.

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Gallery photos by Camille Shaw