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PENSACOLA, Fla. – No. 24-ranked Alabama Huntsville held a 24-point advantage with 15:45 remaining but the UWF men's basketball team held its own against the defending Gulf South Conference Regular Season Champions by going on a 29-10 run over the next 10:10 to cut UAH's lead to 64-59 with 5:35 remaining in regulation. Unfortunately for the Argonauts, the squad will have to wait until 2017 for its first GSC win as Alabama Huntsville eventually held on for a 76-67 victory on Saturday afternoon.
West Florida (5-4, 0-4 GSC) faced a large challenge when going into halftime down 41-26. UAH (7-3, 3-1 GSC) shot a blistering 8-for-13 from three-point range and shot 51.7% from the floor in the first half to create a near insurmountable deficit for the Argonauts.
DII Bulletin preseason All-American Seab Webster led the offense for the Chargers, scoring 17 first half points while going 6-of-10 from the floor. With UAH leading 19-16, Webster converted on long-range shots on each of UAH's next three possessions to hand the Chargers a 25-18 advantage. Webster's effort provided a spark for UAH for the remainder of the half with the Chargers stringing together a 16-8 run to close the first 20 minutes.
Over UWF's remarkable 29-10 run,
Marvin Jones collected eight points while going 2-of-3 from beyond the arc during that span. Jones and
Deangelo Legrier led the team with 11 second-half points each. UWF shot 53.3% from the field in the second half, including a 40% clip from distance. West Florida outscored UAH 41-35 in the second half, and held advantages in turnovers (3-7), blocks (6-0) and assists (11-6).
For the entire contest, UWF outscored UAH in the paint at 28-20, on second-chance efforts at 10-6, points of the bench at 12-8 and on the fast break at 6-4. West Florida posted a season-high eight blocks in the effort, led by
Darryl Tucker who had three.
Jones contributed a season-high 20 points, while Legrier,
Jason Laatsch and Tucker all contributed double-digit point totals at 14, 13 and 10, respectively. Laatsch matched his career-high with seven rebounds, as he tied Legrier for the team-high.
Rashaan Benson contributed seven assists to help set up the Argonaut offense.
UWF allowed a season-high 13 three-point field goals. Webster concluded his impressive performance with 25 points and 16 rebounds to lead all players in both categories.
West Florida will start 2017 with a home contest against North Alabama on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
For information on all UWF athletics, visit GoArgos.com.
