North Florida Men’s Basketball lost to Stetson 76-71 on Saturday at the Edmunds Center. Senior guard Kamrin Oriol led North Florida with 17 points, shooting 7-for-14 from the field, and added four assists and a rebound in 32 minutes. Oriol has been the team’s leading scorer in 19 games this season.
Graduate student Dalton Gayman contributed 14 points and six rebounds, while redshirt sophomore Mason Lee was close to a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Graduate student Nestor Dyachok and sophomore Kent Jackson each scored 10 points, making it five Ospreys players who finished in double figures.
Oriol made an early three-pointer that forced a Stetson timeout and helped North Florida build a 14-5 lead by the first half’s 15:40 mark. Dyachok extended the lead to double digits at 20-10 after finishing inside on an assist from Gayman. North Florida went into halftime ahead 40-29, having shot over 51 percent from the field and nearly 46 percent from three-point range during the first half. The team led for almost seventeen minutes before halftime.
The Ospreys closed out the first half with an eight-point run over six minutes. After halftime, Oriol hit another three-pointer, extending their run to eleven unanswered points and giving North Florida its largest lead of the game at 43-29 early in the second half.
Stetson responded by tying the game at 48 with just over fifteen minutes left. Later in the half, Stetson took a seven-point lead before Gayman cut it back to two possessions with a three-pointer at around five-and-a-half minutes remaining. Lee followed up with another three to bring North Florida within one score at 66-63.
Oriol scored on a drive to reduce Stetson’s lead to one point late in regulation, and Jackson made two free throws to make it a one-point game again with under a minute left. However, Stetson converted its late possessions to secure the win as both teams traded leads five times during the second half.
North Florida will finish its regular season at home in UNF Arena against Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday, February 26 at 7 p.m., followed by River City Rumble rival Jacksonville on Saturday, February 28 at 6 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
