In a closely contested matchup, North Florida Men’s Basketball lost to Austin Peay 77-76 at UNF Arena on Thursday night. The game was marked by 15 ties and 10 lead changes.
With the score tied at 76, Austin Peay received a technical foul for calling a timeout with none left. Senior guard Kamrin Oriol made one of two free throws, giving North Florida a 77-76 advantage with just under two seconds remaining. However, Austin Peay responded with a successful long shot with 0.6 seconds left to claim the win.
Oriol led North Florida in scoring with 24 points, shooting 8-for-15 from the field, including three three-pointers and five free throws in six attempts over 39 minutes. He has now scored at least ten points in 28 of the team’s 29 games this season and has reached the twenty-point mark fourteen times.
Graduate student Dalton Gayman contributed 14 points and nine rebounds in 27 minutes, nearly achieving a double-double. In the first half, North Florida built a double-digit lead after Gayman’s driving finish put them ahead by ten. The Ospreys extended their advantage to as much as sixteen before halftime and led by fourteen at the break.
North Florida held Austin Peay to just over twenty-eight percent shooting from the field and twenty percent from beyond the arc during the first half while outscoring them in points in the paint.
Austin Peay mounted a comeback in the second half, cutting into North Florida’s lead with a twelve-to-two run and eventually tying the game midway through the period. Both teams traded leads down the stretch before Oriol’s late three-pointer gave North Florida a brief edge.
North Florida will play its next game against Stetson on Saturday, February 21 at DeLand, scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. ET tip-off.
