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The North Florida Ospreys are just a team that destined to become the next Atlantic Sun Cinderella in the NCAA Tournament. UNF's season opening win has already vaulted them to No. 13 in our Mid-Major Power 15 and veteran laden team looked to continue to build their resume Saturday with a match up at Louisville as part of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Classic.
Pesky was probably the best word to describe the Osprey's first half efforts. The catch and shoot specialist housed on Matthew Driscoll's team gave Rick Pitino's Cardinals plenty of trouble.
UNF went 9-for-16 from three in the first half and even though the Ospreys lost an early lead to surrender a 30-21 deficit, there was plenty of fight left. The Ospreys went on a 10-0 run and rattled the Cardinals so bad that both Donovan Mitchell and Mangok Mathiang received technical fouls in the last five minutes of a chippy first half.
Unfortunately UNF could not duplicate their efforts in the second half as the Cardinals trounced the Ospreys to the tune of 40-26 in the second half for a 89-61 win. The biggest discrepancy was in the paint where Louisville out-rebounded the Ospreys 53 to 22.
Despite the abysmal second half, Dallas Moore and Beau Beech were able to combine for 39 points on the afternoon. UNF only got 13 points from the rest of their starting five.
On the Louisville side of things Drexel transfer Damion Lee lead the way with 24 points and 7 rebounds for the Cardinals.
North Florida will look rebound Tuesday night at Saint Louis in one of our Mid-Major Pick 'em games.