EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - From down 11 to up by as many as nine, North Florida men's basketball (5-2) earned its third road win of the season thanks to five Ospreys with double-digit points in a 78-73 victory against SIU Edwardsville (5-4) Friday, Nov. 29.
Jasai Miles went for his second double-double of the season and Josh Harris scored a game-high 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting to pace North Florida. UNF's bench outscored SIUE by ten and UNF drained seven more three-pointers.
FINAL SCORE
SIUE | 73
UNF | 78
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
1st Half
- Miles drained consecutive treys as UNF and SIUE were even at eight at the first media timeout … Jaylen Smith and Harris added their own from deep to keep UNF within three at the second media timeout … SIUE's lead grew to 11, but three-straight UNF buckets, including a layup and three-pointer from Liam Murphy got UNF within four at the 5:09 mark … UNF's three-point shot found the bottom of the net a few more times, with Murphy finding another and Kamrin Oriol getting in on the action to tie things at 36-36 … UNF took its first lead since the 13:19 mark with a pair of Oriol free throws, but SIUE regained the advantaged with a buzzer-beating three-pointer before the break.
2nd Half
- Oscar Berry hit a three-pointer from the top of the key, giving UNF a quick lead to start the second half … Oriol hit another corner pocket three-pointer with under nine minutes to go, giving UNF a 62-56 lead, its largest of the game up to that point … Harris earned a big second-chance layup and Nate Lliteras drained a timely three-pointer after a stop, putting UNF up by a game-best nine points with 1:40 to go … SIUE hit a three-pointer to cut things to five with 50 seconds to go before Lliteras hit the front end of a one-and-one from the line … he would miss the second but gather the rebound and drain the next two free throws as UNF held on late.
BY THE NUMBERS
SIUE
- Desmond Polk | 19 points
- Ring Malith | 13 points, 8 rebounds
North Florida
- Josh Harris | 20 points, 9 rebounds
- Jasai Miles | 11 points, 10 rebounds
- Nate Lliteras | 13 points, 7 rebounds
- Liam Murphy | 12 points
- Kamrin Oriol | 11 points
- Jaylen Smith | 8 points, 6 assists
NOTABLES
- It was the first meeting between the two teams
- It was UNF's first game in Illinois since defeating Illinois in 2015
- It was UNF's first road game since Nov. 12 at Georgia
- Miles posted his second double-double of the season
- Harris reached 20 points for the third time this season
- Five Ospreys scored in double figures
POSTGAME COMMENTS
UP NEXT
UNF completes the Thanksgiving weekend road trip at Nebraska Dec. 1.