Bears’ defense keeps Ospreys in check for half, but fall in end

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Central Arkansas held the most prolific three-point shooting team in the nation in check for 20 minutes Thursday.

But the North Florida Ospreys found their range in a big way in the second half and recorded a 92-80 victory at UNF Arena.

UNF (9-9, 2-3), which entered the game leading the country with 12.5 made three-pointers a game, connected on 14 of 19 (73.7 percent) in the second half alone to pull away from the Bears. UCA held UNF to 5 of 23 (21.7 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half.

UCA (5-13, 1-4), playing its third consecutive conference game in the state of Florida, got three-pointers from sophomore Brayden Fagbemi and freshman Layne Taylor in the final 35 seconds to grab a 39-35 lead at halftime. UCA shot 54.5 percent overall in the half and made 6 of 7 from beyond the arc.

“I thought we handled ourselves pretty decent on the road in the first half,” said UCA coach John Shulman. “They just shot the blood out of it in the second half, so good for them. But they miss four of them, it’s a tie game. They go 10 of 18 in the second half, which is amazing, and it’s a tie game.

“We made some really bone-headed plays in the first half, ones that we haven’t been making. But when that ball goes in, it covers up some mistakes, and that happened in the first half. We don’t normally go 6-for-7 like we did from the three. So it covered up some of the mistakes.

“And we addressed them at the half. But you still have to guard. And I don’t know if we didn’t guard or that ball (just) went in (for UNF). A normal team doesn’t go 14 of 19 with no people in the gym, and they did it with us guarding them. The first half, I thought we were OK in zone. I thought it kind of threw them for a little bit of a loop.

“But they got a little too comfortable against it in the second half. And I’ve never been involved in a game where a team went 14-of-19 from three in a half.”

The tide changed quickly in the second half as the Ospreys made 5-of-7 three-pointers in the opening six minutes of the second half, while UCA opened the half 3 of 13 overall. UNF got the lead on a three from Jasai Miles with 15:26 to play and never trailed again.

UNF had just five players make three-pointers, with Miles and Oscar Berry hitting five each and Nate Lliteras adding four. The Bears finished a more than respectable 9 of 21 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc but made 10 less than the Ospreys.

For UNF, 19 of its 35 made baskets were from three-point range, while 14 of its 21 made field goals in the second half were threes.

“That first five minutes of the second half are vital,” said Shulman. “You come down and get a score and a stop and a score and a stop and now all of a sudden you’re up eight. But we let them back in it.”

Taylor, a freshman from Farmington, Ark., had just five points at the half but finished with a team-high 19. Senior Elias Cato was 6-of-6 at the free-throw line and scored 15 points, while Fagbemi added 12 points and freshman Nehemiah Turner had 10 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots off the bench.

“I still don’t think we’re as far off as we think we are,” said Shulman. “We played a really good first half, and we have a couple of things we’ve got to clean up. We talk about hard times make tough men, and tough men make successful men. And we’re going through some hard times right now. But we’ve got some tough dudes in there.”

The Bears continue their Florida road trip with a game across town against the Jacksonville Dolphins at 2 p.m. Saturday at Swisher Gymnasium.