North Florida wins 2015 A-Sun Tournament - Mar 9, 2015
Top-seeded North Florida battled No. 3 USC Upstate and came away with the 2015 Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Championship title with a 63-57 victory in sold-out UNF Arena. With an A-Sun Championship Final record 6,155 fans in attendance, the Ospreys claimed their first-ever A-Sun title. Demarcus Daniels (6'7''-F-93), the A-Sun Championship MVP, scored a game-high 22 points and Jalen Nesbitt (6'6''-G) (16) and Dallas Moore (6'1''-PG-94) (13) also scored in double figures for UNF. A-Sun Player of the Year, Ty Greene (6'3''-G-92) finished with a team-high 21 points with Fred Miller (6'4''-G-92) adding 14 points for the Spartans. Both Spartans made the All-Tournament Team alongside Daniels, Nesbitt & Moore. FGCU's Brett Comer & Lipscomb's Talbott Denny (6'6''-G) capped the squad. North Florida held a nine-point lead at halftime, 34-25, behind 11 points from Daniels and nine by Nesbitt. Shunquez Stephens (6'5''-F-92) tallied seven first-half points for the Spartans as Miller added six of his own, while Greene struggled from the field with a 2-11 start to head to the break with five points. Out of halftime, the Spartans marched into the lead with an 11-0 run to quiet the UNF Arena crowd and take a 36-34 advantage. USC Upstate pushed its advantage to as much as four points with 11:11 left in the contest, but the Ospreys grabbed hold of the scoreboard for the remainder of the contest at the seven-minute mark behind two free throws by Chris Davenport (6'8''-F-94) as UNF locked up the A-Sun title by holding the Spartans scoreless for 6:34 late in the second half. For Greene, it marked his 20th 20-point game of the season, which is third-most in the A-Sun since the 2007-08 season. Greene's 21 points pushed his career total to 1,841, which sits 13th-most in conference history, while his 666 points points this season are the 13th-most in conference single-season history. UNF became the first A-Sun team to win the conference title on their home court since 2001 as the Ospreys improved to 12-2 at UNF Arena and 23-11 overall. USC Upstate drops to 23-11 with the loss which sits as a Division I program record for victories for both squads. The UNF victory also snapped a five-game losing streak for the Ospreys to the Spartans. North Florida finds out its opponent for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, March 15th at 6 p.m. The NCAA Selection Show will broadcast on CBS.
North Florida - USC Upstate Championship Final Notes - Beau Beech finished with eight points in the contest to push his career total to 1,014; tied for 153rd in A-Sun history. - Fred Miller (6'4''-G-92) and Dallas Moore (6'1''-PG-94) tied with the game-high with three steals, while Demarcus Daniels (6'7''-F-93) recorded two blocks to move his career total to 104; most among active A-Sun players. - With 22 points, Daniels set a career-high in points as his previous-high was 17 in the Ospreys win vs. Purdue. - The UNF Arena crowd of 6,155 fans passed the 2007 A-Sun Championship Final for record attendance.
All-Tournament MVP: Demarcus Daniels (6'7''-F-93) of N.Florida Player of the Year: Ty Greene (6'3''-G-92) of USC Upstate Defensive Player of the Year: Demarcus Daniels (6'7''-F-93) of N.Florida Freshman of the Year: Tayler Persons (6'3''-G) of N.Kentucky Newcomer of the Year: Kori Babineaux (6'4''-G) of Jacksonville Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Mario Blessing (6'2''-G-92) of USC Upstate Coach of the Year: Matt Driscoll of N.Florida
