Florida Gulf Coast knocks off North Florida 81-65

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) Julian DeBose scored 16 points and Florida Gulf Coast knocked off Atlantic Sun leader North Florida 81-65 on Saturday.

With the loss, North Florida (18-8, 7-2) falls into a tie at the top of the conference with Jacksonville (15-11, 7-2), which beat Stetson earlier in the day.

Florida Gulf Coast raced out to a 17-2 lead, but North Florida chipped away and overtook the Eagles just before halftime on Chris Davenport's 3-point play to lead 35-34 at intermission.

An 11-2 run, punctuated by DeBose's 3-pointer, gave FGCU a 55-46 lead with 12:32 to go, which it maintained throughout the rest of the half.

Florida Gulf Coast (14-11, 5-4) shot nearly 51 percent. Christian Terrell scored 14 points, Marc Eddy Norelia had 13 points with 11 rebounds, Demetris Morant and Antravious Simmons had 12 points apiece and Zach Johnson added 11 points and six assists.

Beau Beech led North Florida with 20 points and nine rebounds.