PENSACOLA, Fla. – The West Florida men's basketball team had six players score in double figures but was unable to slow down a hot shooting Mississippi College team, falling 84-82 at the UWF Field House Thursday night.
UWF (2-6, 1-4 Gulf South Conference) dropped its third-consecutive contest overall and third-in-a-row to MC. The Argonauts shot 50 percent form the floor but were just 8 of 21 from outside for 38 pct.
Freshman
Rashaan Benson led the Argos with 16 points, while adding three steals, three assists and four rebounds. Juniors
Austin Somerfield and
Mario Stramaglia were two of the four starters in double figures, finishing with 14 apiece.
MC (3-4, 2-3) was led by Tristan Moore's game-high 20 points and seven assists. Jonathan McGee added 19 with 10 coming at the free throw line. As a team, the Choctaws were 25-of-33 at the stripe, including 12 of 15 in the final 2:05.
The Choctaws ended the game with a 36-26 edge in rebounding. They did commit 20 turnovers which the Argos converted into 24 points.
After trading the lead three time in the first two minutes, MC used an 8-2 run midway through the first half for a 23-15 advantage. The margin eventually grew to 14 points following a Johnny Rucker dunk with 3:34 to play in the period. The Argos battled back and trimmed the deficit to 41-35 at the intermission following a 7-2 run over the final 1:46.
The Choctaws pushed their lead back to double digits early in the second half, grabbing a 52-40 edge five minutes in. UWF continued to battle, chipping away and getting the margin back into single digits a number of times, including down to 72-68 following a pair of
Justin Williams free throws with 2:49 remaining.
But the visitors made their freebies down the stretch to hold on and snap their 3-game losing streak.
UWF will return to action on Saturday when it plays host to Delta State (8-3, 3-2) in a doubleheader with the women's program. The women's game will tip off at the UWF Field House at 2:00 p.m., followed by the men's contest at 4:00 p.m.
