Jan. 30, 2009

Box Score

Jacksonville, Fla. - North Florida stormed back from a 13-point deficit, scoring 27 points in the final 12 minutes of play to steal a 51-50 victory away from USC Upstate Friday night in A-Sun men's basketball action in the UNF Arena.

Upstate fell to 4-16 overall and 3-8 in the A-Sun. The Spartans stay in Jacksonville to take on A-Sun frontrunner Jacksonville Sunday afternoon at 2:00. North Florida improved to 5-16 overall and 3-8 in the league.

Bobby Davis was simply tremendous in the game for Upstate. He, again, put the Spartans on his back. However, unlike the first game on Jan. 3 when Davis gave an emotional performance spark Upstate into maintaining control of its lead against the Ospreys and take a 69-64 win, North Florida overcame Davis' one-man show. He finished with a game-high 19 points and tied a career-high with 16 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season.

Upstate held a 13-point lead after Davis converted two free throws with 13:19 to play. Leading by 11 with 9:06 remaining, the Spartans looked in control of the game. That's when North Florida began its comeback.

North Florida scored seven unanswered points to get within four, 43-39. The Ospreys got within three as Cortez Riley scored four straight to get UNF within 46-43.

After Davis made 1-of-2 free throws to give Upstate a 47-43 lead with 3:41 to play, North Florida rallied into the lead. Zack Riggins made a layup and the ensuing free throw after being fouled on the play, while Germaine Sparkes did the same as the Ospreys opened a 49-47 lead. After a Spartan missed shot, Riggins grabbed the offensive rebound and made the put back. He was fouled on the play but missed the free throw as UNF held a 51-47 lead with 2:08 to play.

Mezie Uzochukwu's layup cut the UNF lead to two with 1:42 to play. The teams traded turnovers on the next two possessions with Upstate turning the ball over with 31.4 seconds to play. Riley was fouled on the inbounds play, but missed the front end of the one-and-one. Gordon drove the lane and missed his shot with 10 seconds to play, but the rebound fell out of bounds off an Osprey player to give Upstate another crack at tying the game.

Davis was fouled with five seconds to play. He made the first free throw to cut the UNF lead to one, 51-50, but missed the second free throw. Riggins was fouled on the rebound. He missed the front end of the one-and-one and the rebound went off an Osprey with 2.7 seconds to play. Gordon took the inbounds pass and launched a shot from 40 feet that hit off the back of rim and North Florida survived for the 51-50 win.

"When you lose a game that you are in control of, it is very disappointing," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "We didn't get stops, we didn't get defensive rebounds and at times they got extra possessions. To be honest with you, I think I made a couple of mistakes that hurt our team. The whole thing was tremendously, tremendously disappointing for us."

Gabor Boros led the offensive charge early in the game, knocking down two three-pointers to lead Upstate to a 13-4 lead to start the game. North Florida answered with six straight points on three-pointers from Jordan Fair and Riggins to get within three, 13-10, with 12:41 to play.

Upstate pushed its lead back to five, but North Florida countered with eight-straight to take an 18-15 lead with 6:30 to play in the half. Mezie Uzochukwu's long two-pointer ended the Osprey run and got the Spartans within one, 18-17, with 4:45 to go. De'Marion Gordon's slashing, driving layup gave the lead back to Upstate at 19-18.

North Florida went back in front at 20-19, but Upstate closed out the half with five unanswered points to take a 24-20 lead at halftime. Boros's nailed his third three-pointer of the half with six seconds to play to give Upstate its 24-20 lead.

Boros led the way for Upstate in the first half with nine points. Davis chipped in six points and nine rebounds. Riggins and Fair each had five for the Ospreys.

After pulling down nine rebounds in the first half, Davis reached a double-double with two free throws with 16:28 to play to give Upstate a 29-22 lead. Davis had 10 points and 10 rebounds at the time.

Upstate's defense was staunch to start the second half, holding UNF to just one field goal in the first seven minutes. The Spartans used its defense to outscore the Ospreys 11-2 to start the half and build a 35-22 lead.

Riggins led UNF with 14 points and four rebounds for the game. Eni Cuka added eight points, while Sparkes and Januska each added seven.