Mercer men’s basketball topped by North Florida, 89-83

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (MERCER RELEASE) – Junior forward Darious Moten’s career-high 21-point effort wasn’t enough to stop North Florida from claiming an 89-83 win over a shorthanded Mercer men’s basketball team on Wednesday night at UNF Arena. Mercer saw its five-game winning streak snapped and fell to 10-5 (1-1 A-Sun) while UNF improved to 8-7 (2-0 A-Sun).

Moten shot 8-of-10 from the field while also collecting a career-high seven rebounds in only 16 minutes of work. Sophomore Ike Nwamu topped the 20-point mark for the second time this season, netting 20 on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor to go along with two rebounds, an assist and a steal.

UNF employed their best shooting performance against Division I competition this season, hitting 27-of-50 (54%) from the field in the win. The Ospreys were especially adept from three-point range, canning 10-of-19 attempts.

Already playing without injured senior center Monty Brown, Mercer was forced to fit senior guard Bud Thomas with a facemask after he sustained a broken nose against Jacksonville on Monday night. Thomas was hit across the face just 17 seconds into play on Wednesday evening and limited to just nine minutes of action thereafter.

Mercer scored first, but UNF ripped off seven-straight points to get the early advantage. From there, the Ospreys began the long-range assault that saw them hit six of their first nine three pointers while going ahead by as many as 14 in the period. Mercer got to within four of hosts midway through the half, but could not close the gap.

After taking a 43-29 lead into halftime, UNF scored the opening five points of the second half in just 62 seconds. The hosts would maintain a double-digit lead before taking their biggest advantage of the evening at 74-46 with 6:10 to play.

Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman removed his starters with just over eight minutes remaining, and the reserve contingent, led by Moten, cut the UNF lead from 28 to six before the final buzzer. Sophomore Jibri Bryan scored 12 points while senior Kevin Canevari and junior T.J. Hallice each scored six to help the late charge.

Mercer returns to action hosting USC Upstate on Saturday. Game time is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.