JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville men's basketball erased a double-digit second half deficit for the second time this season against crosstown rival North Florida to sweep the River City Rumble for the first time since 2013. JU won 86-81 on Thursday at Swisher Gym on the strength of five double-figure scorers to clinch the three-seed in the ASUN Championship. The Dolphins will host six-seed Kennesaw State Monday night.

"I thought we were much more efficient around the rim in the second half," said Head Coach Tony Jasick. "We didn't turn it over as much."

JU trailed by seven at halftime and as many as 10 in the second half before the offense came alive and the defense clamped down. UNF extended the advantage to 44-34 less than a minute into the second half, and after the Dolphins cut it to four, North Florida stretched it back out to nine, 53-44 with 15:17 left.

Jaylyn Hinton scored six of Jacksonville's next 11, throwing down an alley-oop dunk to tie it at 55 at the under-12 timeout.

The game would see-saw to the tune of five lead changes and five ties over the next 8:24, until Hinton's threw down another slam over two Ospreys and Jacksonville took the lead for good.

In the first half, the lead was tied four times and changed hands six. After attacking the paint early, JU did not score a point inside over the last 8:30 of the opening frame.

"In the first half, I didn't think we did a good job offensively in what we were trying to do," said Jasick. "I also don't think we did a good job defending the three-point line."

North Florida made six threes in the first half and finished with 11 in the game, but shot just 34 percent from downtown on the night. Jacksonville also got back to attacking the rim in the second half, to the tune of 24 points, many of them coming off of Hinton dunks on feeds from Devin Harris. 

The redshirt-senior from Tampa, Fla. recorded the first triple-double for JU hoops since Kip Stone did it on Jan. 14, 1995 at Texas Pan-Am. Harris had 14 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high 16 assists when it was all said and done.

"I had no idea. I had a GA on the sideline come up to me with about 10 minutes left and tell me 'two rebounds for a triple-double' and I was like 'Oh', it kind of surprised me," said Harris.

With the win, Jacksonville hosts an ASUN Championship Quarterfinal for the second time in the last three years, and finish with a winning record in conference play for the second time in the same span.

TIP-INS

• Five players scored in double-figures for the second straight game for JU. Jace Hogan led the way with 26, Cody Helgeland and Hinton added 16, Harris had 14 and Tanner Rubio tacked on 12.
• Three seniors were honored before the game: Harris, Helgeland and Antwon Clayton.
• Jacksonville scored 38 in the paint, just two points shy of 40, which would have been the fifth time in conference play the Dolphins had poured in at least that number.
• It was the third time in ASUN play that JU erased a double-digit second half deficit to win a game.
• JU shot 57 percent from the field, the eighth time this season that the Dolphins have topped the half-century mark in a game. The team improved to 6-2 in such contests.

QUOTABLE

"[We're] playing for the man beside you. Coach says all the time 'hey, hey, hey' and pulls us aside and says 'what's that on your shirt?' 'Jacksonville'. We got back to playing for each other and I tell them in the huddle every game to do it for the man beside you. That's what makes us different."

- Senior guard Devin Harris on what has changed for the team since a four-game losing streak earlier this month