Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida had opportunities on Jan. 31 to move up in a crowded ASUN men’s basketball race and sustain the momentum they had built in recent victories.
Neither team took advantage at home. The Dolphins were outscored 17-6 over the final eight minutes of the game and lost their eighth in a row to Florida Gulf Coast, 68-49 at Swisher Gym; and the Ospreys had an 11-point lead early in the second half but wasted 30-point games by senior Kamrin Oriol and sophomore Kent Jackson and lost 100-94 to Lipscomb, the third time UNF has given up 100 or more points in a conference game this season.
With the halfway point of the conference season passed, JU (9-14, 4-6) and UNF (5-18, 3-7) are headed in the wrong direction. The Dolphins had a two-game winning streak and had won three of four games and the Ospreys lost both games last week, also interrupting a two-game winning streak and halting a stretch of three victories in four games.
Speaking for his team, JU coach Jordan Mincy isn’t discouraged. The bottom eight teams of the 12-team conference have lost either six or seven games and shakeups are sure to happen every week.
“It’s wide open and that’s what I love about it,” Mincy said. “It’s going to be fun when it comes to the conference tournament. It’s going to be about matchups and whoever’s playing well on that given night. Any team can win.”
UNF coach said it’s about peaking late
UNF coach Bobby Kennen said the last time he remembers the conference being this balanced was his first season with the Opsreys under Matthew Driscoll in 2009-10. There was a four-way tie for first at the end of the regular season, with two games separating the bottom five teams, and the conference championship game saw fifth-seeded East Tennessee State beat No. 6 Mercer.
“It was absolutely ridiculous,” Kennen said about the balance in the league that year. “Every team was good. But I think it’s going to be a common theme with college basketball. We all have completely new rosters and by and large, who can get together the quickest? It’s competitive night in and night out.”
UNF was competitive in both of its games last week until the defense faltered both times in the second half. The Ospreys led Lipscomb 45-36 at halftime, but the Bison shot 79.4 percent in the second half, including seven of 12 shots from the 3-point arc.
Oriol set his career record for the third time in four games with 35 points, making 7 of 12 3-point attempts. Jackson hit for 32 and made eight of 17 from beyond the 3-point arc. But Lipscomb’s Mateo Esmeraldo led five players in double figures with 24 points and made nine of 11 from the floor.
In their 84-77 loss to Stetson on Jan. 29, UNF cut an 11-point deficit to 75-71 with 1:54 left on Jackson’s 3-pointer. But the Hatters’ Ethan Copeland answered with his sixth 3-pointer of the game (in nine attempts, with a game-high 25 points) and Daniel Macgregor made all four of his free throws down the stretch.
Jackson led UNF with 20 points, and Dalton Gayman had 18. Oriol was held without a basket for the first half and then 8:15 into the second half, and finished with 12.
JU holds on against Lipscomb
The Dolphins held the Bison to 38 percent shooting in the first half and led 40-27 at the break. JU stretched the lead to 51-31 early in the second half but Lipscomb rallied behind Charlie Williams (22 points), who scored nine points during an 18-0 run that was capped with Esmeraldo’s 3-pointer with 8:57 left.
Lipscomb cut the lead to one point twice, but the Dolphins stayed ahead and freshman guard Evan Sterck and senior forward Allen Udemadu combined to make five of six free throws in the final minute.
Junior forward Donovan Rivers led the Dolphins with 17 points and nine rebounds and freshman guard Hayden Wood added 14.
The Dolphins trailed Gulf Coast 25-24 after a slow-paced, sometimes ugly first half for both teams but once the Eagles went on an 18-6 run to take a 43-32 lead with 11:49 left, the Dolphins got no closer than seven points.
JU shot 37 percent for the game and made only one 3-pointer in 17 attempts. The Dolphins had 16 turnovers, 11 by their low-post players. Wood led with 11 points and Jordan Ellerbee led FGCU with 15.
What are the current seeds for the ASUN Tournament?
With only eight conference games left, it’s still too early to project, especially in the middle part of the conference. Austin Peay (9-1), Lipscomb (8-2), Central Arkansas (7-2) and Queens (7-3) would be the top four seeds if the season ended today, and get first-round byes into the ASUN Tournament quarterfinals March 6 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
But five teams are 4-6: JU, Florida Gulf Coast, West Georgia, Stetson and Bellarmine. Complicating any projections is that the first tie-breaker for seeding purposes is head-to-head games. JU still has to play Stetson twice and FGCU once more, while FGCU and Stetson have yet to play either of their two games.
Only one game behind those teams in the loss column are UNF, Eastern Kentucky (3-7) and North Alabama (2-7) so anything’s possible from the fifth through the 12th seed.
Men’s roundup: A trifecta of 3s wins for Saints
Flagler (14-7, 8-5 Peach Belt): Three shots with mere seconds left, all from beyond the 3-point arc, by three players, were the winning formula in a 72-70 double-overtime victory on Jan. 28 at Georgia Southwestern.
The shots resulted in a tie, another tie, and then the ballgame.
Flagler rallied from 10 points down with 6:24 left to tie the game 52-52 in regulation on a 3-pointer by junior guard Jordan Smith (a game-high 23 points) from the right side of the key with one second left, after a steal in the backcourt. The Saints trailed 59-52 with under three minutes left in the first overtime but scored the last seven and tied the game again, 59-59, on graduate guard Tariq Daughton’s trey with two seconds left from the top of the key on the right side, after he came off a screen by junior center Tymoteusz Pszczola.
The lead changed hands seven times in the second overtime and GSW led 70-69 on a layup by JR Jacobs with 18 seconds left. After a timeout with 8.5 seconds left the Saints ran a play to graduate guard Rahdir Hicks, who took a pass from junior guard Camden Andrews (14 points, six assists) and drained the winning shot with four seconds left.
There wasn’t nearly the drama on Jan. 31 as the Saints won their fifth game in a row by beating Columbus State 67-61 at home. Hicks had 17 points, senior guard Hoku Fisher chipped in with 16, and junior guard Mason Manning had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Edward Waters (10-11, 8-9 SIACC): The Tigers couldn’t find a defensive answer for Central State sophomore guard Micah Bays, who scored 31 points in their 93-86 overtime victory on Jan. 31 in Wilberforce, Ohio. Bays’ dunk with 11 seconds left sent the game to overtime, and he scored seven points in the extra period. Sophomore guard Jaelen Nelson led the Tigers with 26 points (he hit five of 11 3-pointers). … Junior forward Keshawn Evans had 26 points and 12 rebounds in EWU’s 99-71 victory over Kentucky State on Jan. 29 in Frankfort, Ky. Freshman guard Jayvon Johnson had 21 points and eight rebounds off the bench
Trinity College (9-7, 3-1 NCCAA Region II South): The Eagles earned a split of two region games at home with a 104-79 trouncing of Southeastern Baptist (Miss.) on Jan. 31. Sophomore guard Tayden Owens and freshman guard Sherrard Adams both scored 24 points and combined to make nine of 12 3-point shots. Senior guard Diego Fernandez added 19 points, including 12 of 13 from the four line. … Fernandez scored 29 points and Owens had 19 in a 94-84 loss to Bob Jones University on Jan. 29. Senior center Brandon Hill had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
This week’s games
Feb 3: Pensacola Christian at Trinity College, 8 p.m.
Feb. 4: Middle Georgia at Flagler, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 5: North Florida at West Georgia, 7 p.m.; Jacksonville at Queens, 7 p.m.; Spring Hill (Ala.) at Edward Waters, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 6: Trinity College at Toccoa Falls (Ga.), 7 p.m.
Feb. 7: Jacksonville at West Georgia, 2 p.m.; North Florida at Queens, 3 p.m.; Trinity College at Bob Jones (S.C.), 3 p.m.; Flagler at USC-Aiken, 3:30 p.m.; Albany State (Ga.) at Edward Waters, 5 p.m.
Women: JU wins buzzer-beater at Austin Peay
Junior forward Carmaya Bowman took an inbounds pass from senior guard Makiya Miller with two seconds left, turned and let fly with an 18-footer jumper that hit nothing but net as Jacksonville beat Austin Peay 70-68 on Jan. 31 at the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tenn.
Austin Peay tied the score 68-68 on a layup by Jim’miyah Branton. The Dolphins called a quick timeout and got possession near midcourt to set up the final play. Bowman, who led JU with 20 points and made seven of 11 shots from the floor, set up in the middle of the lane, ran at Miller, took the ball and shot over Austin Peay’s Mackenzie Neal.
It was the third victory in a row for JU (14-7, 6-4), which is tied for third in the conference with Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson and projected as a fourth seed in the conference tournament, based on NCAA Net, the second tie-breaker. The first, head-to-head, doesn’t apply yet because the Dolphins, FGCU and Stetson haven’t played each other.
THIS IS DOLPHINS BASKETBALL#RideTheWave | #JaxBasketballhttps://t.co/Kn66T2QY5Z
— Jacksonville Women’s Basketball (@JAX_WBB) January 31, 2026
Freshman guard Tatum Brown had 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals and freshman guard Aniah Smith had 16 points and five assists.
Senior guard Priscilla Williams led four players in double figures with 20 points and added eight rebounds in JU’s 72-54 victory over Lipscomb at Allen Arena in Nashville. Brown and Smith had 15 points each and Miller 13.
North Florida (8-12, 3-6 ASUN): The Ospreys won a Thursday conference game and lost on Saturday for the second week in a row, but the victory on Jan. 29 was a big one: junior guard Alonya Waldon hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left and Elle Blatchford rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Anovia Sheals to preserve a 69-66 victory over Austin Peay at the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tenn.
Sophomore guard Jamisyn Stinson (18 points) helped rally the Ospreys in the final minutes with a pair of 3-point shots (Waldon assisted on the second). Waldon, who led with 24 points, has made a game-winning 3-pointer twice this season. She hit one from the logo at the buzzer on Nov. 29 to beat Campbell at UNF Arena.
The Ospreys had a chance for their first two-game winning streak in the ASUN on Jan. 31 at the Allen Arena in Nashville. They were tied with Lipscomb 65-65 with 4:35 left on Waldon’s layup, but Molly Heard of the Bison, who scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, made a shot in the lane with 16 seconds left, and Lipscomb went on to score the final eight points of the game to win 73-65. UNF was zero for five from the floor and had three turnovers in the final four minutes.
Edward Waters (16-5, 14-3 SIAC): Another week, another pair of defensive gems from the Tigers. In a 64-38 victory over Central State in Wilberforce, Ohio, on Jan. 31, EWU harassed Central in 26.5 percent shooting and 19 turnovers, and were in command after junior guard Tan Smith scored six points during an opening 12-0 run. Brown finished with 15 points and junior guard Imani Harris with 12. … In a 59-47 victory over Kentucky State on Jan. 29, senior forward Shrica Fowles had 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Jourdan Avery had 11 points off the bench. Kentucky State shot 27.3 percent and had 20 turnovers. … The Tigers have held their last four opponents to less than 30 percent from the floor, and nine times this season. Central was the 10th opponent EWU has held to less than 50 points.
Flagler (9-12, 4-9 Peach Belt): The Saints split, losing 82-57 at home to Columbus State (Ga.) on Jan. 31 and beating Georgia Southwestern on the road 75-57 on Jan. 28. Sophomore guard Emerson Kutz led the Saints with 13 points. vs. Columbus, but they shot 33.3 from the floor and had 29 turnovers. Senior guard Natalie Herrin scored 23 points and senior forward Marley Smith 22 in the victory over GSW.
Trinity College (10-7, 3-0 NCCAA Region II South): The Eagles won both games last week at home, beating Southeastern Baptist 93-50 in a region game on Jan. 31 and beat Paine College (Ga.) 77-70 on Jan. 29. Senior guard Emma Parrish led TBC with 27 points on 10 of 16 shooting (four of seven from the 3-point arc) and sophomore guard M’lani Vitela had 25 points, hitting nine of 16 from the floor, in the victory over SE Baptist. Sophomore forward Travesha Giddens contributed 16 points, six rebounds, five steals and five assists. … Vitela led the Eagles with 16 points off the bench against Paine, with Giddens scoring 13 and junior guard Kirsten Joseph 12.
This week’s games
Feb. 3: Pensacola Christian at Trinity College, 6 p.m.
Feb. 4: Middle Georgia at Flagler, 5:30 p.m.
Feb. 5: Spring Hill (Ala.) at Edward Waters, 5:30 p.m.; West Georgia at Jacksonville, 6:30 p.m.; Stetson at North Florida, 7 p.m.
Feb. 6: Trinity College at Toccoa Falls (Ga.), 4 p.m.
Feb. 7: Trinity College at Bob Jones University (S.C.), 1 p.m.; Flagler at USC-Aiken, 1:30 p.m.; West Georgia at North Florida, 2 p.m.; Jacksonville at Florida Gulf Coast, 2 p.m.; Albany State (Ga.) at Edward Waters, 2 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville, North Florida losing time to move in ASUN basketball