As the North Florida (0-1) men’s basketball found out Friday night, going on the road to take on a Power-Five conference school is no simple task as it lost its season opener to the Auburn Tigers (1-0.)

To the Ospreys’ credit, Auburn and its three starting freshmen had a historic night from beyond the arc. The Tigers sank a school record 10 three-pointers in the first half to yield a 49-30 lead at the break.

In fact, the 10 three-pointers just may have made the whole difference in the game as North Florida outperformed Auburn in points in the paint (26-20) bench points (31-24) and points off turnovers (21-19). However a key factor for putting down the Ospreys was limiting star player performances.

Seniors Dallas Moore and Chris Davenport only had a five points apiece on the game and redshirt junior Romelo Banks had to carry the offense of load with 16 points. Freshman guard Garrett Sams had the surprising performance of the game and recorded 11 points in his debut.

The Ospreys manage to outscore the Tigers 36-34 in the second half, but the damage was already done. However, the effort was little more than garbage time points as the Tigers had the game already secured and at one point led the Ospreys by 30 points.

When the final buzzer rang, it kicked off the Osprey season with an 83-66 loss.

The Birds of Trey look to get back on track against Edward Waters Nov. 14 for their home opener.

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