First Coast college basketball: Jacksonville’s road ASUN winning streak snapped at six games

[ad_1]

The ASUN men’s basketball race solidified Saturday. With every team facing four more games in the regular season six can still finish as the regular-season champion.

It also became clear that while Jacksonville University has qualified for the ASUN Tournament, the Dolphins have work left if they want to finish among the top four in the league and clinch at least one home tournament game.

JU played perhaps its worst defensive game of the ASUN season on Saturday, at least on the inside, in a 92-79 loss at North Alabama in Florence, Ala., that broke a six-game conference road winning streak.

Jacksonville University freshman guard Chris Arias drives against a Central Arkansas player during their game on Feb. 13 in Conway, Ark. Arias has averaged 12.5 points in his last four games.

The Dolphins wasted a solid shooting effort (48.4 percent from the floor, 50 percent from beyond the 3-point arc on 10 of 20 shots) when the Lions shot 54.2 percent from the floor, outscored JU 42-34 in the paint and held a 39-28 edge rebounding.

The Lions also outscored the Dolphins 22-9 from the foul line, with JU getting called for 22 fouls and North Alabama 12.

The loss dropped the Dolphins to a third-place tie with Eastern Kentucky (both are 10-4), a game behind North Alabama and Lipscomb (both are 11-3).

Queens and Florida Gulf Coast are tied for fifth at 9-5.

JU holds tie-breaker over EKU, for now

The first tiebreaker is head-to-head and the three ties at the top are still in doubt. North Alabama beat Lipscomb earlier this season, but they play on Thursday at Lipscomb. JU beat Eastern Kentucky, but the Dolphins host the Colonels on Feb. 24. Queens and Florida Gulf Coast have already split their two games.

The convoluted second tiebreaker, which compares the tied teams’ records against the first-place team, then on down in the standings if that’s a tie, will have to wait until the season is over to determine. The final tiebreaker is the NCAA Net rankings.

Ospreys’ big lead disappears

While JU is still in…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/first-coast-college-basketball-jacksonvilles-100353855.html

Author : The Florida Times-Union

Publish date : 2025-02-17 10:03:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.