Wednesday, November 22, 2006

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida men's basketball team battled back from a 10-point halftime deficit to pull within a point of Florida Atlantic in the second half on Wednesday night, but the Ospreys faltered down the stretch in losing 59-44 at UNF Arena.

Rashad Williams scored 12 points to lead UNF (1-4), which had a 10-game non-conference home winning streak snapped in the loss. The Ospreys shot just 35 percent for the game - including a 28 percent clip in the first half - and committed 20 turnovers in dropping to 0-3 all time against FAU (1-4).

Florida Atlantic guard Paul Graham scored 17 points and Carlos Monroe added 16 to lead the Owls.

"Our team just didn't come out with enough passion and energy to play the game," UNF head coach Matt Kilcullen said. "We didn't take good shots at times, and we made some poor decisions offensively. In the second half, we came out with a purpose, and that got us back into the game. We just didn't maintain our composure after that."