FLORENCE, AL -- The Jacksonville Dolphins dropped their first road ASUN contest of the year Saturday to North Alabama, 92-79.

The Dolphins had previously won six consecutive road ASUN games before their rematch with the Lions. 

Kendall Munson got JU (16-10, 10-4) on the board first with a pair of free throw makes, part of an 18-point scoring night from the forward. The two teams went back and forth during the opening six minutes of the game, with JU grabbing its largest lead of three points behind a Jakari Spence made jumper.

Shortly thereafter, UNA grabbed the lead and never gave it back. This season, North Alabama has only lost one game at home by one point.

Munson's 18 points, on 7-10 shooting, led the Dolphins on the road. It was his second time leading the team in scoring in the past four games. The 'Phins were without the services of regular starting 5-man Stephon Payne III who was down with a lower body injury. 

Munson earned his fourth consecutive start in the game and played 31 minutes until fouling out with less than one minute to play. He tied Robert McCray V for the team lead in rebounds with seven while also dishing two assists.

The senior led the Dolphins in +/- with a +8 rating. He was one of two players (Tito Deng, +2) to finish with a positive +/-.

Just behind Munson in scoring was McCray who dropped 17. McCray was extremely effective at dishing the ball to others as he tied the game-high in assist with seven. Most of McCray's damage came in the second half, where he dropped 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. The junior guard turned the ball over just one time.

With his 17 points, McCray eclipsed 1,000 points scored while in a JU uniform. After breaking 1,000 points scored in his NCAA career against Central Arkansas, McCray now has 1,001 points scored while at Jacksonville. He is the 33rd player in program history to hit that mark.

Freshman Chris Arias came alive during the contest, tying McCray with 17 points. The sharpshooting Jacksonville native went 6-9 from the field and 4-5 from beyond the arc. His four deep makes tied Zach Bell for best on the team.

Bell had arguably his best shooting night of the season Saturday, going 6-8 and 4-4 from range. Bell finished with 16 points and two boards.

Donovan Rivers started in the place of the injured Payne and grabbed five rebounds. Zimi Nwokeji added a single 3-pointer. Starting point guard Jakari Spence tallied eight points, three assists and two rebounds. 

After making a dozen 3-pointers against Central Arkansas, JU carried that over into making 10-20 from range in Alabama. From the field, the Dolphins shot 48.4%.

With Payne out, UNA was able to take advantage and won the rebounding battle 39-28. JU is now 1-3 in ASUN play when losing the battle of the boards.

Game Notes

• Jacksonville cleaned up on the offensive glass, collected 11 offensive boards in the game.
• Rivers recorded all of Jacksonville's three blocks.
• Rivers started his first game of ASUN play this season.
• Maximus Fuentes appeared in his second consecutive game.

NEXT UP
The Dolphins are now halfway through their four-game road trip. JU next heads back to Florida and the eastern time zone to play Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday, Feb. 18. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. EST. 

Jacksonville will play its final regular season road game of the year on Thursday, Feb. 20 at UNF in this season's second edition of the River City Rumble.