Box Score (.pdf)

Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate men's basketball team dropped its first conference game of the season Thursday evening as the Spartans fell to the North Florida Ospreys 73-65 inside the G.B. Hodge Center.

Upstate falls to 11-8 overall and 1-1 in the conference, while North Florida improves to 7-12 on the season and 2-0 in league play.

Malik Moore came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points for the Spartans, and Michael Buchanan added 13 points and Philip Whittington 10. Buchanan also had a team-high nine rebounds and Josh Cuthbertson contributed eight. Dallas Moore led all players with 19 points for the Ospreys, and was joined in double-figures by Aaron Bodager (17) and Chris Davenport (12).

GAME BREAKDOWN

• Bodager connected on a pair of 3-pointers within the first two minutes of the game to give North Florida the lead at 6-2. Upstate responded with a triple from Ramel Thompkins and five points by Buchanan to go in front 10-9 with 16:53 remaining.
• The Ospreys would go ahead by four just over two minutes later when a dunk by Romelo Banks gave them a 14-10 lead, but the Spartans answered with a 14-2 run over a span of 5:20 and led 24-16 at the 8:10 mark on a 3-pointer by Malik Moore.
• North Florida was able to cut its deficit to four points only to see Upstate take its largest lead of the game at 32-22 with 2:28 remaining following a 3-pointer from Cuthbertson.
• A last-second jumper by Dallas Moore trimmed the Spartans lead to seven, 36-29, heading into halftime.
• Buchanan quickly began the second half for Upstate with a layup to put it back in front by nine, 38-29, just under two minutes into the period.
• The Ospreys then used a 10-2 run over the next 3:20 to trail the Spartans 40-39 with 15:00 left after Davenport converted an and-1 opportunity. North Florida took its first lead since the 13:30 mark of the first half the following series when Garrett Sams made it 43-42 with his jumper.
• Upstate held the Ospreys scoreless over a stretch of nearly four minutes as it used three 3-pointers from Malik Moore and Jure Span to go back ahead by nine, 54-45, with 10:35 to go after Moore connected on his second triple of the run.
• Deion Holmes would maintain the Spartans nine-point advantage, 58-49, at the 8:34 mark with his fast break dunk.
• Dallas Moore scored North Florida's next nine points from behind the 3-point line with his last tying the game at 58-58 with 6:44 left.
• The score would be tied twice over the next two minutes before Bodager and Dallas Moore hit back-to-back 3-pointers and gave the Ospreys a 65-62 lead with 1:54 to go. Cuthbertson followed with a triple of his own the next possession to even the score at 65-65.
• North Florida finished the game on an 8-0 run and recorded six of its points at the free-throw line. A pair of free-throws by Sams with five seconds remaining put the final score at 73-65.

• Buchanan fell just one rebound shy of his 10^th double-double of the season, and added two blocks, one assist and one steal.
• Malik Moore finished the game shooting 5-of-7 from the field while Whittington was 5-for-10.
• Mike Cunningham dished out a game-high six assists which was one short of equaling his career-best of seven set earlier this season against Jacksonville State.
• Dallas Moore scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half and was 7-of-16 shooting overall.
• Bodager was 6-of-12 from the field and connected on 5 of his 10 3-point attempts.
• Upstate concluded the game shooting 42.6 percent (26-of-61) as a team.
• The Spartans held a 31-16 advantage over the Ospreys in points from the bench and tied 28-28 in points in the paint.
• The score was tied eight times in the contest with the lead changing hands 10 times.

• Upstate closes out its conference-opening three-game homestand on Saturday, January 14 at 2 p.m. against Jacksonville.

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