The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Basketball Federation’s Summer of Thunder got underway this weekend with the first in the exhibition series hosted at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

The University of North Florida Ospreys got their trip to the Bahamas off on a positive note with a 102-84 win over The Bahamas All-Stars on night one.

Senior forward Demarcus Daniels led the Ospreys with 30 points and 15 rebounds, Dallas Moore scored 24 and Nick Malonga chipped in with 11.

Mark St Fort led the All-Stars with 16 points, Roosevelt Whylly finished with 15, Rashad Davis added 14 and Kenneth Pratt came off the bench to score 13.

North Florida shot 50 per cent from the field and 53 per cent from beyond the arch. They won the rebounding battle by three (45-43) but had a nine-point edge in second chance points (21-12) and 10-point edge in bench points (37-27).

The Ospreys led nearly wire to wire and in the fourth quarter led by as much as 24 in their first action of the 2015-16 campaign.

The Ospreys are getting an early start to the year, coming off their most successful season in school history.

Led by head coach Matt Driscoll, the Ospreys advanced to its first NCAA tournament appearance where they lost to Robert Morris in the First Four.

North Florida welcomes back 12 players from last season’s tournament team, including two redshirts.

The All-Stars were coached by national team head coach Mario Bowleg and was highlighted by several of his former high school players from the CC Sweeting Cobras.

The Ospreys moved to 2-0 in their Summer of Thunder campaign when they cruised to an easy 102-43 victory over IBA Elite.

Beau Beech led the team in scoring with 15 points, shooting an efficient 6-11 from the field and 3–6 from the three point line. Dallas Moore stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, six assists and five rebounds.

IBA Elite was led by Troy Trembly who finished with eight points and five rebounds off the bench.

Despite the scoring margin head coach Matthew Driscoll was not content with the Ospreys’ shooting percentage from beyond the arch.

During halftime coach Driscoll was polling members of his staff and video team, asking them how many three-point shots were attempted and then followed with “imagine if we could hit the three point shot how much more this lead would be.”

The Ospreys finished 10-35 (29 per cent) from distance.

UNF wrapped up their Bahamas tour last night when they were scheduled to face the CTG Knights.

The showcase is designed to expose local talent to an international style of basketball, as well as give Bahamian players a chance to compete against some of the best collegiate basketball players the NCAA has to offer.