PENSACOLA, Fla. – UWF men's basketball suffered its first home loss of the season Thursday vs. Christian Brothers, falling to the Bucs 71-60. Rashaan Benson scored a season-high 23 points, but the Argos shot just 24-of-65 (.369) from the field for the night.
 
"Just disappointed. I thought we could have done some things better in the first four minutes of the game," said UWF head coach Jeff Burkhamer. "We had the opportunity to maybe get a lead at that point, but we could never break away. We had some mental lapses in the second half defensively and it probably cost us the game down the stretch."
 
Both teams suffered slow starts, and the Bucs took a 25-24 lead to the locker room at half. Benson led UWF with nine first half points. Jon Brown and Maxwell Benoit each scored five points in the first.
 
The score remained close in the second and stood at 53-53 with 4:18 to go. The Bucs reeled off a 12-1 run over the next 3:19 to build a 65-54 advantage with just under a minute to play.
 
The Argos forced two turnovers in the final minute, and threes by Benoit and Benson drew the squad within 65-60 before the Bucs finished the game on a 6-0 flurry.
 
Adam Dieball led Christian Brothers with 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists. The Bucs went 25-of-53 (.472) from the field and 14-of-15 (.933) from the line in the game.
 
Jarrett Henderson recorded his first double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Henri Ventoniemi scored six points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Benoit scored 11 points and recorded four rebounds. The Argos shot 9-of-30 (.300) from deep. UWF outrebounded CBU 37-35.
 
"Our toughness has to be better," said Burkhamer. "You can't give up easy layups. Make them make free throws but don't give up layups, don't give up a plus-one, don't give up a foul on a three-point shot. There are just a whole lot of things we have to get better at if we're going to win in this league."
 
West Florida (3-3, 0-1 GSC) returns to action Saturday at 4:00 p.m. vs. the Union Bulldogs (4-3, 0-1 GSC) at the UWF Field House.
 
"You've got to win home games. We've lost twice since January of 2016 at home. We've been good at home, and we've got to stay good at home because going on the road in this league is not an easy thing. So Saturday becomes a big game."
 
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