PENSACOLA, Fla.- The University of West Florida Men's Basketball team secured their tenth win of the season after a 74-69 victory over the Auburn Montgomery Warhawks.
Brandon Burford led the way for the Argos with a season high 19 points. UWF is now 10-1 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in Gulf South Conference action.
"That was a typical hard fought Gulf South Conference game," Head Coach
Jeff Burkhamer said. "We knew AUM was a physical team and we combated that some, sometimes pretty well and sometimes not so well. The game was physical and you have to play that way."
The Argos took an early lead and never looked back after Brandon Buford scored the first four points of the game.
"I was just trying to be aggressive, I saw a couple of shots go in early and it gave me a little bit of confidence,"
Brandon Burford said"
In the first half
Daniel Sofield was a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc scoring nine of the Argos first half points. As a team West Florida was 8-14 from the three-point line, on 57.1 percent shooting. Auburn Montgomery scored four three-pointers during the half on 40 percent shooting. Sam Youngblood had a team high two three-pointers going into the half.
Defensively the Argos outrebounded the Warhawks 19-11 in the first half.
Wendell Matthews had a team high five rebounds for the Argos. As a team UWF was 17-35 from the field on 48.6 percent shooting. The Argos scored 11 second chance points and had 12 points come from the bench. Burford led the team at the half with 12 points.
AUM was 16-28 from the field on 57.1 percent shooting. From the free throw line, the Warhawks were 2-3 shooting 66.7 percent. Auburn Montgomery had five steals and scored 18 points in the paint.
In the second half the Argos continued their fast paced style of play and extended their lead. At the 9:47 mark the Argos had a 14 point lead.
Jejuan Weatherspoon came off the bench for West Florida and scored eight points during the second half.
Jackson Henningfield who came into the second half with four points scored an additional four to finish the game with eight total points and two blocks.
"I think our guys did a good job of opening the game up in the second half." Burkhamer continued "Made some plays, got some stops, made some shots, ran some good offense to get shots. We found a way to win at the end, kind of escaped at the end but we never gave the lead up. It's kind of been our season, we've been able to find ways to win and I think that's a pretty big credit to those guys."
West Florida finished the game on 45.6 percent shooting going 26-57 from the field. The Argos made nine three-points and had a 52.9 percent three-point percentage. After not taking any free-throws in the first half West Florida went 13-18 in the second, shooting 72.2 percent. West Florida outrebounded Auburn Montgomery 40-28.
Brandon Burford finished the game with 20 points.
Daniel Sofield scored 12 points and had a team high 10 rebounds, securing a double double.
Jackson Henningfield,
Wendell Matthews and
Jejuan Weatherspoon all ended the night with eight points.
Darrin Jenkins had seven rebounds, while Matthews had six.
Overall AUM was 27-62 from the field on 43.5 percent shooting. AUM was led in scoring by Jeremiah Bozeman with 20 points and had a team high nine rebounds. AUM made seven three-pointers and shot 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.
West Florida will face the Montevallo Falcons on Monday, December 20 at 7:30 PM in the UWF Field House.
How to follow the Argos: For complete information on UWF Men's Basketball follow the team on Instagram @UWFMBB and Twitter @UWFMENSBBALL
