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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  – Kennesaw State men's basketball found itself in another one possession game against North Florida at UNF Arena on Thursday, January 19, but came up short as a Dallas Moore jumper with two seconds remaining broke a tie game to give the Ospreys the 86-84 victory.
 
Trailing by three with 15 seconds remaining, head coach Al Skinner drew up a play that freed up Nick Masterson to knock down a three pointer to tie the game briefly with 10 seconds remaining. Then, UNF's Moore sprinted the ball up the court and made a floater from the left side of the basket to regain the lead. KSU's James Scott got a shot off before the buzzer sounded from just over half court, but couldn't get it to fall giving North Florida the two-point victory.
 
Aubrey Williams collected his 11^th double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Kendrick Ray led the Owls with 25 points.
 
The first half was back and forth as each team took turns making runs. The Owls gained an early edge behind 10 early points from Ray to go up 19-13.
 
Trailing by six, Moore hit two of his five three-pointers to take UNF on a 9-0 run giving the Ospreys a 22-19 lead.
 
Looking for a spark, Skinner went to his bench and the Owls got just the jump they needed. Scott and Zach Cameron provided the boost immediately as the two freshmen scored the next 11 points for KSU. The quick 11 points put KSU back up seven on the Ospreys.
 
UNF didn't let the lead grow beyond the seven points and Kennesaw State took a 42-39 lead into the locker room.
 
Early in the second half, the Owls stretched their lead back out to nine on an emphatic Jordan Jones dunk on a fast break forcing North Florida to call an early timeout.
 
Once KSU got its only double-digit lead in the game, the Ospreys started their comeback. North Florida took their first lead of the second half at 64-63 with 9:09 remaining and neither team could get much separation after that.
 
The largest lead was four after a Moore three pointer, but after getting a defensive stop, Tyler Hooker pushed the ball finding Ray on the fast break. Ray laid the ball in while getting fouled. UNF was called for an intentional foul, which gave Ray two free throws as well as keeping possession of the ball.
 
Ray sank both of his free throws for the four-point possession with 1:05 remaining, but Kennesaw State couldn't do any further damage on their next possession.
 
Coming back with the ball, UNF's Chris Davenport hit a three with 15 seconds remaining to push the Ospreys back up by three.
 
After KSU used a timeout, Masterson briefly tied the score up at 84, but Moore hit the game winner with two seconds remaining.
 
The loss drops Kennesaw State to 1-3 in ASUN play. The three losses have come by a combined eight points.
 
The Owls don't have long to sulk after this tough loss as they play Jacksonville on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Historic Swisher Gymnasium.

#NestNotes

• Ray led the team with 25 points. He leads the conference with 14 20-point games this season.
• Williams had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Owls. It is his 11^th double-double this season.
• This is the third loss for Kennesaw State in conference play. All three losses have come by a combined eight points. It is the ninth game KSU has played in this season that was decided by four points or less.
• Jordan Jones, Nick Masterson and James Scott each had nine points for KSU.

 
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