Jacksonville 76, North Florida 70

2/15/2008 11:05 PM

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -Ben Smith scored 13 of his game-high 25 points in overtime to lead Jacksonville to a 76-70 win over neighboring North Florida on Friday in an Atlantic Sun Conference game.

After North Florida scored the first four points in overtime to take a 62-58 lead, Smith drilled back-to-back 3-point baskets in a span of 45 seconds to give the Dolphins the lead for good at 64-62. He then converted 7-of-8 free throws in the final 50 seconds of the game to secure the win for Jacksonville (13-11, 9-3) which remained one game behind league-leader Belmont.

Jacksonville held a 32-25 lead at halftime and stretched their advantage to 11 points at 44-33 with just over 13 minutes left in the game. North Florida still trailed by eight points at 58-50 with four minutes remaining, but the Ospreys scored the game's next eight points, including a game-tying basket by Cortez Riley with four seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Jacksonville didn't score for nearly three minutes of the overtime session, making their first basket on Smith's 3-pointer with 2:13 left in the game.

North Florida (2-23, 0-12) placed four players in double figures led by Germaine Sparkes' 15 points.