Five schools, 10 teams, 22 games — last week was the busiest college basketball week of the season for First Coast teams, with the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University men’s teams playing their fourth games in eight days on Saturday and the women’s teams playing their third in five days.
Jacksonville University went 2-1 on the week but the two were big — keeping the Dolphins’ home winning streak intact. Victories of 62-46 over Jacksonville State on Monday and 51-44 over Lipscomb on Saturday extended JU’s streak at Swisher Gym to 21 games. Senior guard Kevion Nolan also passed 1,000 career points.
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The University of North Florida won a huge game on Thursday, beating Kennesaw 89-86 on Jose Placer’s 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left. He also made one with 27 seconds left to put the Ospreys up by two points before KSU tied it. However, UNF’s offense struggled in a 68-62 loss to Stetson on Monday and a 82-57 loss to Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday. The Ospreys made 25.5 percent of their 3-point attempts (12 of 47) in those two games.
The conference season will settle down a bit into a routine until tournament time. For example, the men’s and women’s teams for JU and UNF will play largely a Thursday-Saturday ASUN schedule for the rest of the season and Flagler’s teams will be Wednesday-Saturday.
Men
Player of the week: Placer scored 32 points and made 10 of 15 3-point attempts in the victory over Kennesaw, four days after he scored 17 points in a 90-85 overtime victory over Austin Peay in which he became the third current player on the Ospreys’ roster to reach 1,000 career points.
Stat line of the week: UNF’s Carter Hendricksen had 10 points, six assists, five rebounds, three steals and one blocked shot against Kennesaw.
Noting UNF (7-9, 2-2): Placer joined Henricksen and Jarius Hicklen in reaching 1,000 points for their college careers. Only Hendricksen scored all of his points in UNF uniform. … Placer came one 3-pointer away from the school record of 11 in one game held by Parker Smith. … The Ospreys are 3-0 at home when trailing at halftime.
Noting JU (9-6, 2-2): The Dolphins went on a 19-2 to run start the second half against Lipscomb to erase a 26-19 halftime deficit. Sophomore guard Gyasi Powell scored all eight of his points during the run and Nolan scored two buckets and assisted on two others. Nolan and senior guard Dylan O’Hearn had 14 points each and junior forward Mike Marsh celebrated his return to the lineup with nine points and six rebounds and helped hold Lipscomb’s big men to a combined 7 of 22 shooting (31.8). … In the victory over Jacksonville State, senior guard Jordan Davis had 19 points and made 5 of 8 3-pointers. … JU fell behind by 17 points at halftime and couldn’t recover at Stetson in a 73-61 loss. Nolan had 20 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Noting Edward Waters (2-9, 2-6 SIAC): The Tigers dropped their eighth game in a row on Saturday at home to Albany State (Ga.), 71-55. Graduate senior Larry Kuimi came off the bench for 15 points and 12 rebounds, his third double-double of the season.
Noting Trinity Baptist (6-5): The Eagles ran away from Welch College 68-51 in their only game of the week, despite hitting only 3 of 17 three-point attempts. However, Trinity got the ball inside early and often and made 71 percent of its shots inside the arc. Diego Fernandez led the Eagles with 15 points and Zach Kiadii and Fausto Alvarez combined to make 9 of 13 shots from the floor.
Noting Flagler (7-8, 1-3 Peach Belt): Junior guard Malik Bryant scored 30 points and shot 12 of 16 from the floor as the Saints won their first Peach Belt game of the season on Saturday and handed USC-Aiken its first conference loss on its home floor, 90-82. Kyle Young added 14 points and nine rebounds. … Bryant had 24 points and shot 10 of 15 from the floor in an 87-82 loss to Columbus State (Ga.) on Wednesday and has shot 67.9 (36 of 53) in his last five games.
This week
Monday
Ft. Valley State (Ga.) at Edward Waters, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Paine College (Ga.) at Edward Waters, 7 p.m.
Wednesday
Flagler at Georgia Southwestern, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Jacksonville at Kennesaw, 7 p.m.
North Florida at Jacksonville State, 7 p.m.
Saturday
Trinity Baptist at Pasco-Hernando, 2 p.m.
Edward Waters at Clark Atlanta, 3 p.m.
Young Harris at Flagler, 3:30 p.m.
North Florida at Kennesaw, 4 p.m.
Jacksonville at Jacksonville State, 5 p.m.
Women
Player of the week: University of North Florida sophomore guard Kaila Rougier scored in double figures in all three games last week, with 36 overall. She also contributed 14 assists, 14 rebounds and six steals.
Stat line of the week: UNF senior forward Emma Broermann had 22 points, 15 rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals in UNF’s 69-63 loss to Lipscomb on Saturday at UNF Arena.
Noting UNF (4-9, 1-2): The loss to Lipscomb came after a furious comeback in the fourth quarter by the Ospreys. UNF outscored the Bison 22-11 and came within a 3-pointer, 66-62 with 1:13 left on Broermann’s layup. UNF managed only one more point after that. Broermann scored eight points in the final period and junior guard Lyric Swann had seven.
Noting JU (7-5, 1-1 ASUN): ASUN MVP Kristin Bell is gone at Florida Gulf Coast but Tishara Morehouse is filling her place nicely. She had 25 points and made 11 of 16 from the floor to lead the Eagles over the Dolphins 77-51 in Fort Myers on Thursday. Senior guard Seraphine Bastin led JU with 16 points and 12 rebounds and senior forward Shynia Jackson had 14 points and six rebounds. … In a 77-64 victory over Bellarmine earlier in the week to open the ASUN schedule, sophomore guard Jalisa Dunlap led JU with 21 points and Bastin added 15 points and nine rebounds.
Noting Edward Waters (5-7, 1-3 SIAC): The Tigers dropped two of three games during the week, ending with a 54-49 loss to Albany State (Ga.) EWU shot 28.1 percent, their second game of the week in which they couldn’t crack 30 percent. Junior guard Avery Jourdan had 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. … Sophomore guard Isis Smith had 13 points and nine rebounds in a 55-46 loss to Lane (Tenn). But senior forward Molly Ragle of Fleming Island had 14 points to lead a 57-45 victory over LeMoyne-Owen (Tenn.).
Noting Trinity Baptist (3-8, 0-1 NCCAA South Region II): Junior guard Emma Parrish had 16 points and senior forward Triniti Snead, an Impact Christian graduate, added 15 in the Eagles’ 75-51 loss to Welch. Katia Bogun added nine points and six rebounds.
Noting Flagler (3-11, 0-4 Peach Belt): Freshman guard Sara Pedraza posted her first career double-double in the Saints’ 86-57 loss to Columbus State (Ga.), with 16 points and 10 rebounds. … Saturday’s 74-52 loss to USC-Aiken continues Flagler on its worst start since going 2-16 in 2016-17. Sophomore guard Sharale McCormack had 11 points and six rebounds.
This week
Monday
Fort Valley State (Ga.) at Edward Waters, 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Flagler at Georgia Southwestern, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday
Liberty at North Florida, 11 a.m.
Queens at Jacksonville, 7 p.m.
Friday
Grace Christian (Mich.) at Trinity Baptist, 6 p.m.
Saturday
Liberty at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.
Young Harris at Flagler, 1:30 p.m.
Queens at North Florida, 2 p.m.
Edward Waters at Clark-Atlanta, 5:30 p.m.