The North Florida Ospreys gained momentum in the second half against the Bears on Thursday, Jan. 27, winning 93-74 at UNF Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Bears led 40-38 in the first half against the Ospreys in the first meeting between the two teams in the ASUN Conference.
With 14 three-pointers, including 10 of 20 in the second half, the Ospreys outscored the Bears 55-34.
“We were in a great place with four minutes left in the first half and could’ve extended the lead to 10 plus, but instead we let them get some easy buckets, and from that point on, they got hot, and we didn’t have an answer,” guard and forward Jaxson Baker said.
“We had a chance to put them out of the game in the first half if we could have kept our foot on the gas, but we kind of let up and gave them some hope, and they ran with it,” guard Collin Cooper said.
The UCA Bears played much of the second half of the game without guard and forward Darious Hall, also known as Day Day, who injured his shoulder early in the second half.
“I think if it had been later in the game, it would have been a different story,” coach Anthony Boone told ucasports.com of Hall’s injury. “But as early as it was in the second half, that was a really big letdown mentally for our team. We really dropped the ball after that. And we just couldn’t recover from it.”
According to ucasports.com, Hall finished with nine points, three rebounds and three steals in just 17 minutes.
“Having Day Day go down was tough as well, but we have guys, including myself, who needed to step up, and we just didn’t quite get the job done. With all that said, though, it’s never an easy task to win on the road,” Baker said.
“Day Day’s injury impacted the team drastically, which shows how valuable he is to us. Still, though, we are deep enough to collectively make up for his absence. So, no excuse there at all. His presence on the court is something you can tell is missing when he’s not out there at all,” point guard Camren Hunter said.
According to ucasports.com, the Bears had four players in double figures, led by freshmen Camren Hunter with 17 points. Junior forward Eddy Kayouloud added 15 points and five rebounds, while graduate student Jared Chatham had 14 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Jaxson Baker scored 10 points off the bench.
The Bears finished with six of 15 from the three-point range and shot 38.6 percent overall and 82.4 percent from the foul line.
The Ospreys shot 47.1 percent overall and 36.8 percent from the three-point range and had four players score in double figures, led by Jarius Hicklen and Jose Placer, who scored 24 points apiece.
Speaking on what keeps the team motivated after a loss on the road, Hunter said, “It’s all about the end goal. We want to be the team out of the ASUN conference to make it to March Madness. We just have to accept our flaws and learn from them.”