EVANSTON, Ill. -- The North Florida basketball team held the lead over Northwestern for most of the final 10 minutes of play before the Wildcats connected on their final six shots and rallied for the 69-67 victory on Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Ospreys (1-2) used a 23-10 spurt midway through the second half to move from six points down to seven points up, 61-54, with 3:55 remaining. However, NU (3-0) was able to connect on a couple of late three-pointers to mount the final decisive charge. UNF had a final shot in the closing seconds for the win, but Demarcus Daniels shot from the top of the arc rattled out at the buzzer allowing the Wildcats to escape with the win.
Sophomore Dallas Moore finished with a team-best 18 points including 12 in the second half while also dishing out a season best five assists. Fellow sophomore Chris Davenport added 17 points with four rebounds and senior Jalen Nesbitt narrowly missed a double-double finishing with nine points and eight rebounds. Bryant McIntosh led Northwestern with 16 points and Tre Demps chipped in 15. The pair combined to score the teams final 13 points with Demps netting the game winner with two seconds remaining.
"The final five minutes of the game boiled down to players making plays on both sides," said head coach Matthew Driscoll. "I thought we competed hard throughout the game, but just failed to complete the game. Give their guys credit because they hit some tough shots in the final minutes and made the plays to get the win. We just need to keep focusing on making sure we take care of all the little details so that we can close out games and get the victory."
Northwestern opened the game strongly holding UNF to just one basket in the first three minutes while building an 8-2 lead. The Wildcats would maintain a slight lead for much of the first half. Midway through the frame both defenses turned up the intensity as the two squads combined for just one basket for nearly seven minutes of play. A late 9-0 surge by the Ospreys highlighted by five points from Moore allowed the Ospreys to grab their first lead, 27-24, with five minutes left in the half. The score stayed close the rest of the period as NU held a 31-29 advantage at the break.
For the game, North Florida outshot Northwestern from the floor, 51 percent to 44 percent, but 10 Wildcat three-pointers including six in the second half made the difference in the close contest.
North Florida continues its four-game road trip in the Cancun Challenge with a game Saturday against Northern Iowa at 1 p.m. (CT).