During the opening half, the Ospreys connected on two quick three-pointers to grab a 6-0 lead over the Eagles. This lead wasn’t held for long as Trinity Baptist began to make a run of their own to take the lead 9-8 at the first media timeout. After the timeout, the Eagles capitalized on UNF’s early mistakes and maintained their lead behind scoring duo junior guard Shelton Burruss and freshman forward Michael Randolph, who tallied 15 and 11 points, respectively.
The teams tied twice as the first half ended. Just as the half expired, Demarcus Daniels connected from behind the arc to send UNF to the locker room with a 36-34 lead. Daniels scored 13 points for the game, but was more explosive on the defensive end, earning 5 blocks on the night.
In the second half, the Ospreys came out shooting and began to pull away from the Eagles. Forward Chris Davenport scored 8 of the first 11 points for the Ospreys entering the half.
“I give all the credit to my teammates for finding me at those times and allowing me to finish those plays,” Davenport said. “We have a lot of guys that could have done the same things. So just play within the team.”
Photo by Al Huffman
UNF made 11 shots from behind the arc. Five Ospreys had double digits in the point column including junior guard Dallas Moore with 20 points to lead the team.
“I thought the biggest thing was [Trinity’s] pace was so slow in the first half so we decided to just pick it up, even though we knew they would make a couple of buckets,” Driscoll said. “We didn’t care as long as we can play offensively because that when we are really good.”
Trinity Baptist sophomore guard Darnel Antoine finished the night with a game-high 21 points.
In the final minute of the game, sophomore Nick Malonga went down with an injury and left the court limping with assistance of the managers. Driscoll said he had a bone bruise and is fine. Spinnaker will update with Malonga’s condition as more information is available.
Before the game, the Ospreys were presented championship rings from UNF Athletics, joined by their now graduated teammates from last year’s historic season. Next, the Ospreys will face the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. at 8 p.m. on Dec. 2.
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