:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/28315103/20131210_kkt_sv7_741.0.jpg)
Stetson 73 - 68 Jacksonville
The Dolphins recent struggles continued on Saturday afternoon. After taking a 100-71 whipping from FGCU on Thursday, Jacksonville came out flat against Stetson as well. Led by Brian Pegg, the Hatters ended the first half with a 41-24 lead.
JU, however, stormed back with a 21-4 run after the break to make things interesting. J.R Holder fronted the Dolphins charge and cut the deficit to three with just under 3 minutes remaining.
In the end, Jacksonville's early struggles and Stetson's ability to get to the charity stripe proved insurmountable. The Hatters head to Spartanburg to battle USC Upstate on Thursday while Jacksonville will try to get back on track against North Florida on Friday.
East Tennessee State 96- 88 Lipscomb
Wow. If you're a fan of insane scoring, this game was for you. Jalen Riley poured in a career high 30 points for ETSU as they shot over 60% as a team. The Bucs are hot as of late and Riley was helped by one of the more underrated underclassmen in the Atlantic Sun: Lester Wilson (13 points).
While Lipscomb's offense was firing on all cylinders as well, their defense couldn't clamp down. Malcolm Smith added 27 points while J.C Hampton had 22. ETSU has a quick turnaround on Monday against USC Upstate while Lipscomb heads to league leading Mercer on Thursday.
USC Upstate 76 - 59 Northern Kentucky
The Spartans were riding high after capturing their first Atlantic Sun road win of the season. Although headliner Torrey Craig had 16 points and 5 boards, Upstate has, along with a nice run to end the opening half, their backcourt to thank. Fred Miller, who slid into the starting role after a Ty Greene hand fracture, had 5 assists to only one turnover. On the day the Spartans only gave the ball up 5 times.
Upstate starts a busy week with ETSU on Monday. NKU heads to Kennesaw State on Thursday.
Florida Gulf Coast 73 - 46 North Florida
The Eagles continued their recent domination. Brett Comer, aka the masked man, has surprisingly found success from beyond the arc as of late. The junior guard nailed two in a row to ignite a first half FGCU run, but UNF came back to keep it close, just 11 points, at the break.
But in the 2nd half, Florida Gulf Coast clamped down defensively and went on a 27-4 run to begin the half. The Eagles never looked back, capturing their 2nd win in a row by more than 27 points. The bigger storyline however was Osprey's forward Travis Wallace injuring his ankle, and only recording two minutes. The extent of his injury is not known yet.
UNF battles Jacksonville on Friday while FGCU heads up to ETSU on Thursday.
