Gandia-Rose scores in North Florida's 102-96 victory

Jan 12, 2018, 02:31 am

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Ivan Gandia-Rosa scored a career-high 26 points, 18 in the second half, and North Florida beat Lipscomb 102-96 on Thursday night.

North Florida (7-12, 1-1 Atlantic Sun) had lost five of its previous six games and the Bisons (11-6, 1-1) had won five of six, but the Ospreys built an 18-point second-half lead then held on in the final frantic few minutes.

North Florida outscored Lipscomb by 19 points over a 12-minute span with J.T. Escobar leading the way with 12 for an 85-68 lead with eight minutes remaining. An 8-0 run got Lipscomb within four with 57 seconds left after UNF was called for a pair of traveling violations. Gandia-Rosa, who made all 11 of his free throws, sank four from the line in the final 19 seconds to help hold off the Bisons.

Lipscomb led most of the first half with Garrison Mathews scoring 21 points but after trailing by as many as 11, North Florida rallied to take a brief lead before falling back to a 48-46 deficit at the break.

Escobar finished five 3-pointers and 18 points and Noah Horchler added 16 points and 15 rebounds.

Mathews, the Atlantic Sun's leading scorer, finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds but was only 2 of 10 from the arc. Rob Marberry added 20 points.