December 19, 2015 BOX SCORE PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida men's basketball team fell 69-64 in a close contest against Delta State on Saturday. The Argos now stand at 2-7 on the year with a 1-5 mark in the Gulf South Conference.
Junior forward
Austin Somerfield led UWF with 20 points and 17 rebounds on the night, and he picked up eight of those rebounds in the first 10 minutes of the game. It was Somerfield's team-best fourth double-double of the season, and he has averaged 24 points and 17 rebounds in those games.
Both teams came out firing from the field, as Delta State made five of its first six shots of the game, all of which were from beyond the arc. Though UWF trailed 15-8 at the first media timeout, the Argos stormed back and tied the game at 15 while shooting 7-10 from the field.
With a 21-19 lead, UWF went cold from the field at the eight-minute mark of the first half and did not score until a
Jason Laatsch made a free throw with just 13 seconds remaining in the half, while the Statesmen scored 14 unanswered points in that stretch.
Rashaan Benson hit a three-point shot as time expired to cut the halftime deficit to nine points.
Facing a 15-point DSU lead, the Argos went on an 18-5 run beginning in the middle of the second half and cut the deficit to two with 2:44 left in the game when Benson hit his second three-pointer of the game. Benson finished the night with 13 points and four assists.
In the final 2:40, DSU stretched the lead to as much as eight points and West Florida fought back to shrink the deficit to as few as three. Free throws plagued the Argonauts, as they went just 8-19 from the charity stripe and DSU went 16-19.
The Argos have seen six of the season's eight games decided by five points or fewer. The UWF defense played admirably against the GSC's leading scorer Devin Schmidt, as the team held him to just 6-20 from the field and kept him six points shy of his season average.
UWF returns to action against Union and Christian Brothers on January 2 and 4, 2016.
For information on all UWF athletics, visit
www.GoArgos.com.
