PENSACOLA, Fla. – The UWF men's basketball team produced one of its most physical games of the season and got some big second half play from its bench in a 71-58 win over Christian Brothers at the UWF Field House on Sunday.
UWF (5-5, 2-5 Gulf South) shot 46 percent from the floor and made 10 3-pointers as four players scored in double figures.
Daniel Sofield had 14 points to lead the team, followed by 13 from
LaTrell Tate.
Jaz Farrell and
Sano Rutatika each had 11, and
Jejuan Weatherspoon added nine and seven rebounds – all off the bench.
"They (CBU) play so physical and so hard, we knew we would have to fight for every single thing," UWF head coach
Jeff Burkhamer said. "We finally made open shots. We had been missing open shots the last couple of games. We shot a better percentage and made some threes and that helped us get going in the game.
"I thought our bench really helped us. Sano (Rutatika) played terrific – made free throws and guarded hard inside their physical big kid. Jejuan made a couple of big shots, Jaz came in and played under control and Channick (Nkoma) helped us. Our bench helped us and that's something we are going to have to have as the season goes along."
After falling behind 6-3 to start the game, UWF reeled off 10-straight points with a pair of threes from Sofield to bookend the run. The Bucs battled back and took a 15-14 lead with 10:05 on the clock. The Argos responded by outscoring the visitors 22-5 the rest of the period for a 36-20 lead at the break.
CBU used an 11-2 run early in the second half to get the margin to eight points, but UWF responded with three Weatherspoon buckets and a slam dunk by Nkoma and never let the margin get under 10 points the rest of the game.
CBU (1-7, 1-4) lost for the sixth-straight time. The Bucs did have 24 offensive rebounds that they turned into 16 second chance points. Darell Johnson had 11 points off the bench to lead the team in scoring.
UWF will step out of conference play this Thursday with a road contest at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia.
