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Missouri dominates North Florida

Nov 21, 2010 - 2:10 AM Columbia, MO (Sports Network) - Ricardo Ratliffe scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, as the 15th-ranked Missouri Tigers dominated the North Florida Ospreys, 96-58.

Marcus Denmon added 18 points for the Tigers (2-0), who own a 49-game non- conference home court winning streak. Kim English tallied 13 points for Missouri, which got 12 points and 10 boards from Laurence Bowers.

"It was refreshing to see our team come out with great energy and great focus. We really jumped on North Florida from the beginning," Missouri head coach Mike Anderson said. "We had a lot more guys than they did and I thought that was really the difference at times."

The Tigers opened the season with a 66-61 victory over Western Illinois on Thursday.

Parker Smith finished with 17 points off the bench for the Ospreys (1-3), who fell to 0-6 all-time against ranked teams. Matt Sauey chipped in with 14 points.

Michael Dixon scored eight points during a game-opening 16-2 run for the Tigers.

Trailing by 11, 25-14, North Florida put together a 12-4 run to get within three. Jerron Granberry bookended the burst with a three-pointer and two free throws to cut the gap to 29-26 with 4 1/2 minutes to go.

Missouri responded with 10 straight points to take a 39-27 lead on Bowers' two free throws. The score was 41-33 at the half.

The Ospreys scored the first six points of the second half to make it a two- point game. English was able to stop the bleeding for the Tigers with a jumper, which started a 21-6 run.

Denmon tallied six points during the flurry that Dixon capped with a jumper for a 62-45 lead with 11:17 remaining.

Sauey made two free throws with 7:18 left to cut the gap to 72-58, but the Ospreys failed to score another point the rest of the way. That allowed the Tigers to close the game out on a 24-0 run.

Game Notes

This was the first-ever meeting between North Florida and Missouri on the hardwood...The Tigers are off to a 2-0 for the fifth consecutive year...Missouri shot 51.4 percent from the field, while the Ospreys made 38.3 percent of their shots...Dixon ended with 11 points and five steals...The Tigers set a Mizzou Arena record by forcing 34 turnovers.