In the tight opening minutes, the Ospreys and Governors exchanged points early behind quick scores and driving into the paint with force. UNF forward Chris Davenport scored on a tip-in and the pace began to pick up for UNF.
Photo by Michael Herrera
On the next UNF possession, a three-pointer from UNF forward Beau Beech swished through the net. This would be the first of 13 made from behind the arc for the night for the NCAA three-point leading Ospreys, but they shot a relatively low 34 percent (13 for 38) from downtown.
As the clock expired for the half, UNF guard Trent Mackey sunk a three-pointer to send the Ospreys to the locker room with a huge 41-24 lead.
Mackey said the three-pointers would eventually fall for the Ospreys.
“That’s who we are. We shoot threes and we make threes,” Mackey said. “We all have confidence, we all have confidence in each other. And to me it felt like it might have been off, but it felt like every time we needed a three, we hit a three and I thought that was big in the second half.”
In that second half, the Ospreys continued to pull away from the Governors with a basket by Davenport right after the break. As the pace just started to picked up, the turnover bug hit both teams. The teams had 27 turnovers combined for the game.
Later in the half, Austin Peay made a run to close the scoring gap. The Governors made seven from downtown and scored effectively from the bench with 26 points.
Photo by Michael Herrera
Governor center Chris Horton contributed 28 points and a game-high 17 rebounds for the night.
There were five Ospreys in double digits led by Davenport with 18 points and eight rebounds. Beech pulled in eight rebounds as well along with 14 points. Demarcus Daniels had 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks off the bench.
Osprey head coach Matthew Driscoll said the Ospreys held a defensive presence despite failing shots.
“I thought we played a great first half. I thought we really controlled the game,” Driscoll said. “I thought we did everything we were supposed to do, and the only thing we didn’t do was make shots. But what was really cool was, as a coach, it did not affect us on the other end and we really really defended, kept getting stops, kept getting good looks.”
Next, the Ospreys will face the Florida A&M Rattlers on Dec. 19 at the UNF Arena. This is the last match-up of their four-game home stand.
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