JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville University men's basketball grinded out a 57-50 win over Stetson on Tuesday night at Swisher Gymnasium.
 
The Dolphins (10-4, 2-0) stayed unbeaten at home this season, now 8-0.
 
The night started out frustrating on both ends of the floor, as Stetson hit a handful of early shots while Jacksonville could not buy one. The Hatters led 8-2 nearly five minutes into the game, and Bryce Workman sank a pair of free throws as part of four quick points to jolt the offense off of the bench. His night was far from over.
 
Stetson built the lead back out to seven, 15-8, before Kevion Nolan found Osayi Osifo for a thunderous alley-oop that got the crowd back into it. Nolan scored four straight and hit Osifo for another alley-oop to bring JU within two, 19-17.
 
After a long scoring drought for both sides, Tyreese Davis tied the game on a layup and George Pridgett beat the shot clock with a rainbow three to put the Dolphins ahead for the first time, 22-19, with 4:07 remaining in the opening half.
 
The teams traded buckets the rest of the way, going into the break tied at 26.
 
The defense defined the early part of the second half, with both teams struggling to score, much less separate. Then Workman came alive.
 
He sank a hook shot with 16:23 to play to give the Dolphins a 31-30 lead and few minutes later he sank another to push the lead to three. The teams traded free throws until Workman again got it in the paint, hitting a floater to reach 10 points on the night and give Jacksonville its largest lead to that point, 42-36.
 
He and Osifo took turns making hook shots and getting to the foul line to keep Stetson at bay. The Hatters had a late run, hitting a contested three-pointer, before trapping on the inbound and forcing a turnover and a layup to cut it to four, 54-50. Workman then got fouled, calmly sank both free throws and Osifo rejected a Stetson layup attempt to seal the victory.
 
UP NEXT
 
Jacksonville heads on the road for the first time in 2022, making the short trip across town to face North Florida in the River City Rumble Pt. 1 at 5 p.m. on Saturday at UNF Arena.

COACH'S COMMENTS

 

NUMBERS YOU SHOULD KNOW
 

• Bryce Workman scored a season-high 19 points. His career-high also came against Stetson last year, and he has 52 combined points scored against the Hatters in his last two games against them
• Osayi Osifo grabbed eight rebounds to go with 10 points, and has 17 rebounds in his first two ASUN games
• JU is 2-0 in ASUN play for the second straight year going into the UNF matchup
• The Dolphins matched their season-high with 27 free throw attempts