The University of North Florida men’s basketball team nearly spoiled Georgia Southern’s first game in its new arena on Saturday, erasing a 17-point deficit with 7:49 to play before finally falling 93-91 in overtime at the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center in Statesboro, Ga.
The Ospreys (6-4) trailed 72-55 but then erupted on an 18-2 run to cut the Eagles lead to 74-73 in less than four minutes.
Liam Murphy hit two 3-pointers, the second with 3:41 left, and Jaylen Smith and Jasai Miles also had 3s during the run and Miles had two steals leading to baskets.
Miles, a sophomore guard with career highs of 30 points and 11 rebounds, then made a 3 to tie the game 80-80 with 1:12 left. Eren Banks of the Eagles responded with a basket 20 seconds later but Smith made one of two free throws and Miles hit a layup with six seconds left to give UNF its first lead of the game, 83-82.
However, Smith fouled Nakavieon White on a shot at the buzzer. White tied the game with the first shot but missed the second to send the game to overtime.
The Ospreys jumped out to an 88-84 lead but GSU went on a 7-3 run, capped with White’s layup to tie the game 91-91 with 44 seconds left. Bradley Douglas scored in the paint with six seconds remaining and Smith missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
The key for GSU is that Miles not only didn’t score in overtime but he didn’t get a shot. The Ospreys were also just 7 of 14 from the foul line and were 2 for 5 in the last 1:54 of regulation and overtime.
UNF beat Warner 115-83 at home on Dec. 5, with freshman forward Josh Harris leading five players in double figures with a career-high 26 points on 11 of 14 shooting. He added 14 rebounds. Smith had 19 points and six assists.
Men’s roundup: Jakari Spence proves he can score
Jacksonville (5-4): For the first eight games of the season, graduate senior guard Jakari Spence has been content to distribute first and shoot second. But Dolphins coach Jordan Mincey is now certain that Spence can score after he dumped in a team-high 20 points on Dec. 5 in an 88-75 victory over Florida Tech, at Swisher Gym. Spence, a transfer from Monmouth, had scored in double figures only once this season before he made 7 of 10 shots from the floor, making six of his baskets on layups by penetrating or in transition. He also found time to share the ball, with a season-high eight assists. Junior guard Robert McCray V had 17 points, six assists and four rebounds and junior forward Stephon Pane III had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Edward Waters (5-4, 1-1 in SIAC): The Tigers had five players in double figures in squaring their conference record with an 83-72 victory at Kentucky State on Dec. 2. Paxon graduate and senior guard Ja’Kobe Williams had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists and freshman forward Myles Hosten had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Flagler (5-2, 1-0 in Peach Belt): Hilliard graduate Jaylen Jordan, a junior forward, had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead the Saints to an 89-82 victory over his former team, visiting Georgia Southwestern, to open the conference schedule. Senior guard Jax Bouknight and junior guard Max Hrdlicka had 14 points each.
Trinity Baptist (1-6): The Eagles have likely had enough of Ave Maria. Saturday’s 122-75 loss to the NAIA school near Fort Myers was the second in 12 days in which the Gyrenes scored in triple digits. They beat Trinity 142-93 on Nov. 25. In the two games, Ave Maria shot 37 of 84 from the 3-point line (44 percent). In Saturday’s games, TBC sophomore guard Diego Fernandez led with 17 points. He had 20 points earlier in the week in an 80-75 victory over Champion Christian of Hot Springs, Ark., and 21 in a 79-68 loss to Florida Gateway.
This week’s games
Dec. 10
Jacksonville at Florida Atlantic, 7 p.m.
Dec. 14
East Tennessee at Jacksonville, 3 p.m.
UNC-Greensboro at North Florida, 5 p.m.
Lane College (Tenn.) at Edward Waters, 5 p.m.
Women’s roundup: Team effort in EWU comeback
Edward Waters (4-2, 1-1 in SIAC): Junior guard Mia Morel got it started. Seven teammates then joined in as the Tigers outscored Kentucky State 29-13 in the third quarter to pull away from a 26-26 halftime tie to win 72-53. Morel opened the period with 3-pointers on successive possessions and eventually eight players scored in the quarter. After shooting 10 of 33 in the first half (30.3 percent), EWU shot 53 percent in the third period. Senior guard E’laijah Brown led with 14 points and junior guard Nekaya Williams and senior forward Simon Henshaw had 12 each.
Jacksonville (6-3): The Dolphins squandered a 19-point halftime lead at Georgia Southern on Dec. 5 but scored seven of the last eight points to erase a one-point deficit with 1:13 left to beat the Eagles 56-51. GSU outscored the Dolphins 13-2 in the third quarter and 11-1 over the first 5:49 of the fourth quarter to take a 45-43 lead, and was up 50-49 with 73 seconds left. However, senior guard Edyn Battle converted a three-point play nine seconds later and she and graduate senior Makayla Edwards made two free throws each to keep JU ahead. Battle had 22 points.
North Florida (2-8): The Ospreys continued to have problems with slow starts. In losses to Minnesota (90-44) and Florida A&M (85-57) last week, they were outscored by a combined 58-14 in the first period, shooting 7 of 25 (28 percent). UNF’s opponents shot 24 of 36 (67.7 percent) in the opening quarter. Senior guard Kaila Rougier had 19 points and eight rebounds against the Rattlers.
Flagler (3-5, 0-1 in Peach Belt): The Saints lost their conference opener 68-60 at home against Georgia Southwestern. The only double-figure scoring for Flagler came off the bench from senior guard Destiny McClendon (14 points) and junior forward Carleigh Grimm (12). … The Saints overwhelmed visiting Fort Lauderdale 75-33 on Dec. 3, with freshman guard Jazmine Major leading with 11 points and four players scoring 10 each. Major also had nine rebounds.
Trinity Baptist (0-7): Junior forward Caroline Smith of Lake Butler poured in a team season-high of 34 points in a losing effort as the Eagles fell to Champions Christian 90-70 on Dec. 5. Smith made 11 of 18 from the floor and 12 of 14 from the foul line. She added eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Ranjala Brown added 20 points and seven rebounds.
This week’s games
Dec. 12
Trinity Baptist at Albany State (Ga.), 6 p.m.
Dec. 13
Jacksonville at Marshall, 11 a.m.
Dec. 14
UNC-Asheville at North Florida, 2 p.m.
Lane College (Tenn.) at Edward Waters, 3 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: First Coast college basketball: UNF storms from 17 back, losses in OT
