GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Florida hit its first four and a season high 13 three-pointers to claim a 79-34 win over Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon at the O'Connell Center.

Kori Babineaux led Jacksonville (2-9) with 10 points as the Dolphins stayed competitive with the Gators throughout the first half.

Florida (6-4) found the arc to its liking early on starting out a perfect 4-4 from three - all in the opening three minutes. The long ball allowed the Gators to secure an early 14-4 lead less than four minutes into the game. Misters allowed the Dolphins to stay close hitting two three-pointers of his own in the next minute of action to spur a 13-4 run.

"We did a pretty good job in the first half making them work from the perimeter," said Head Coach Tony Jasick. "They started 4-4 from three, but went 2-11 from there."
 
The Jacksonville defense forced eight straight misses and held the Gators scoreless for over five minutes at one point during the stretch. The defense couple with an offense that started 7-10 form the field managed to close the gap to a single point at 18-17 following a Babineaux floater with just over nine minutes remaining in the opening half.

The lead was still at just three points for Florida after J.R. Holder beat the shot clock with a long three-pointer to make it 23-20  at the six minute mark. The Gators would eventually take a 34-24 lead at halftime after a 17-foot straight on bank shot by Dorian Finney-Smith at the buzzer.

"The last ball was one of those that was a heart breaker because we could go into the locker room down eight and feeling pretty good," Jasick said. "When he banked that shot in it takes a little bit of wind out of your sails."

In the second half, Florida regained its outside touch hitting six of its first nine three-pointers over the opening 10 minutes of the stanza. The three-ball barrage was part of a 28-7 stretch for the Gators which put the game out of reach for the Dolphins.

"We took some quick shots in the second half, but they weren't bad shots." said Jasick. "We took some that we could make as well and just missed them. In games like this your margin is so small you can't afford to miss multiple shots that are quality shots."

The Dolphins are back in action at home inside Veterans Memorial Arena on Wednesday against Gardner-Webb.