:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/27494255/20131219_jla_ay4_044.0.jpg)
Led by Ricardo Glenn's double-double, the Spartans defeated North Florida to win their second consecutive conference game. They started with an absolute manhandling of the Ospreys in the first half, including a Fred Miller-propelled run.
USC Upstate then opened the second half with another powerful run but UNF wouldn't go away. The Ospreys, fueled by Dallas Moore's 18 points, kept the second half close.
In the end, the balanced scoring from Glenn (16), Torrey Craig (15), and Ty Greene (16) was too much as Eddie Payne's squad grabbed their fourth A-Sun win. They now sit tied for fourth while UNF clings to third place just a game ahead.
The Bears are no doubt the best team in the Atlantic Sun right now, and they showed that on Saturday with a 87-49 whooping of Stetson.
Mercer had four double-digit scorers and assisted on 24 of their 31 field goals. While senior Anthony White Jr. led the Bears in scoring with 19, Langston Hall had another impressive facilitating performance with nine assists.
The Hatters had their three game winning streak snapped and are now tied for 5th with a 4-5 A-Sun mark. Mercer, with a trip to ETSU up next, stay alone atop the standings with a 7-1 conference record.
Courtesy of a Kinard Gadsden-Gilliard game winner with 9 ticks left on the clock, ETSU barely edged out Jacksonville, 76-75, on Saturday night.
Gadsden-Gilliard led a hot shooting Buccaneers team which knocked in 47 percent of their 3-point attempts. Although that led them to a seven-point lead at halftime, Jarvis Haywood led the Dolphins on a comeback.
A back and forth second half ended with the final tally in favor of the Bucs who move to fourth place in the standings with a .500 conference mark. Meanwhile JU will look to improve against Lipscomb on Thursday after falling to 4-5 in Atlantic Sun play.
Chase Fieler's 24 points led a balanced Florida Gulf Coast scoring attack that was too much for the Owls and the Eagles headed home with a 83-52.
While Bernard Thompson came out of the gate strong for FGCU, Fieler ended up taking over as they main scoring threat. The Owls didn't have much but did get an impressive performance from Willy Kouassi with 15 points and six boards.
Still, that was not enough for Kennesaw State as turnovers and lack of production from Myles Hamilton were overbearing. The Owls fall to 1-8 in conference play while FGCU, 7-2, holds onto second place.