Featured image by: Darvin Nelson

Video by: John Watson

In a tough bout with the No. 19 Florida State Seminoles, the Ospreys struggled to defend FSU’s strong post presence in a 98-81 loss. 

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsot7N82hhs[/embedyt]

The Seminoles began to take control by capitalizing on UNF’s ten costly turnovers throughout the first half. 

The closest that UNF came to a lead later in the half was when a triple from Ryan Burkhardt pulled the Ospreys within two, trailing 20-18 with less than eleven minutes left. 

The story of the first half for FSU was their overpowering size. 

The team in garnet and gold outrebounded UNF, 19-11, and scored 34 of their 48 first half points in the paint. 

The Birds of Trey weren’t skipping a beat as they made 52 percent of their threes (9-17). 

Burkhardt led the Ospreys in scoring with four three-pointers off the bench. 

The Seminoles hit the ground running in the second half and didn’t look back as the team extended their lead to as large as 21. 

UNF tried to chip away at the lead but the Seminoles continued to press and bully them on the inside for the entire second half.

The best way that UNF Men’s Basketball Head Coach Matthew Driscoll described the Ospreys’ performance in the second half was like salmon going upstream. 

“We’re sort of like salmon all the time when we’re going uphill and when you’re going uphill, you’re trying to fight against everything and you’re usually your worst enemy,” Coach Driscoll said. 

Ivan Gandia-Rosa led all in scoring with 23 points, going 6-12 from the field.

With that loss, the Ospreys dropped to 7-6 and face another ACC opponent in Syracuse on Saturday, December 21 at 6:00 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. 

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