North Florida wins 2015 Atlantic Sun Conference Basketball Tournament

North Florida is going to the NCAA Tournament. A standing-room only crowd watched DeMarcus Daniels set a career high and the Ospreys beat USC Upstate, 63-57, behind their roaring fans for the Atlantic Sun Championship.

Daniels’ 22 and Jalen Nesbitt’s 16 points led the Ospreys and got them to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance in the program’s history. Even before this, North Florida’s Dallas Moore dropped 36 points in their semifinal win over Lipscomb to get the Osprey’s in the championship game.

North Florida’s offense struggled for the majority of the game. The team won despite shooting only 38.6 percent from the field and 5-of-21 from three-point range. Ty Greene led South Carolina Upstate with 21 points in the loss.

North Florida battled back in the game with a second half run and controlled the tempo of the final minutes with stout defense to keep the Spartans at bay. In 1994, North Florida was an NAIA squad and now, they’ll likely play in Dayton in the “First Four” of the NCAA Tournament.