PENSACOLA, Fla. – University of West Florida men's basketball (18-2, 10-2 GSC) took a thriller in Florence Thursday night, defeating North Alabama (10-9, 5-7 GSC) 77-76. Darryl Tucker matched a season-high with 27 points (10-10 FG, 7-9 FT), and Marvin Jones reset his season-high with 22 points (8-12 FG, 4-7 3-PT FG, 2-4 FT).
"We fought really hard, and we found a way to win on the road in a really good basketball environment," said UWF head coach Jeff Burkhamer. "It was a fun environment to play in. We just kept battling, and fortunately we had the one spurt that gave us enough to kind of open the game up and find a way to win at the end."
Tucker was the only Argo to score more than four points in the first half. He posted 18, plus six rebounds, five of them on the offensive glass while playing 14 minutes. UWF was outshot .452 to .444 in the first and outrebounded 21-13. The Argos entered the halftime break trailing 39-36. Kendall Stafford led UNA with 15 first half points.
"I thought they physically whipped us in the first half. We were really struggling with their size and their strength inside," said Burkhamer. "That's why we went to two bigs in the second half to kind of combat that a little bit… We made the adjustments and played much better in the second half."
North Alabama began the second on a 7-2 run that threatened to put the contest out of reach. The No. 15 Argos worked their way back though, using a three from Jones, a dunk by DJ Thorpe and a Tucker layup to draw within 48-45 with 15:22 to play. Jones helped UWF seize momentum less than a minute later on a block that he followed with a transition dunk.
UNA tied the contest at 59-59 with 8:48 to play before three straight threes by Jones and Thorpe helped UWF go up 68-61. UWF built the lead to 75-65 with 4:04 to play, but UNA refused to go quietly. The Lions got a key four-point play from Kendarius Smith with 1:46 to go to trim the deficit to 75-74.
Jones hit a pair of clutch free throws with 24 seconds left to put UWF up 77-74. Tucker fouled out with less than ten seconds to play on a Jeff Hodge drive that resulted in two made free throws. With the score at 77-76 and 7.2 seconds on the clock, Jones once again went to the line after a UNA foul. He missed both free throws, but, fortunately, a final Hodge three to potentially win the game proved off the mark.
UWF shot 14 of 27 (.519) from the field in the second half while holding North Alabama to an 11 of 32 (.344) mark. West Florida shot 19 of 33 (.633) from the line for the game, while North Alabama shot 16 of 24 (.667).
Jones led all scorers with 18 second half points. He finished with 22 total points, five rebounds, three blocks, and two steals. Thorpe finished the contest with 11 points, five rebounds and three steals. He now sits at 59 steals for the year, just three off the single-season program record (62) since 1994, which was set by Marcus Grant in 2006-2007.
Tucker added 10 rebound plus three assists, two blocks and a steal to his 27 points. The double-double was his seventh of the year and his first since Dec. 18. Henri Ventoniemi narrowly missed out on a double-double, scoring nine points and grabbing seven rebounds. Stafford led the home team with 23 points. Sharwyn McGee led all players with 17 rebounds.
The contest was just the second this season in which two Argos scored 20 or more points. The feat was previously accomplished Dec. 2 vs. Valdosta State. Tucker had 27 points in that contest, while Moter Deng had 22.
UWF next travels to Alabama Huntsville (12-8, 5-7 GSC) for a 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon matchup with the Chargers.
"They're always good at home, and they've got a bunch of guys that can make shots. They really shoot the ball well," Burkhamer said of the Argos' upcoming matchup at UAH. "We know it's a different challenge and another good challenge on the road to beat a very historic program in our league."
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