BOX SCORE

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The UWF Men's Basketball Team battled late, but ultimately fell, 82-77, to No.11 West Georgia on Sunday night inside the UWF Field House.
 
West Florida drops to 3-6 and 1-4 in Gulf South Conference play, while UWG improves to 9-0 and remains undefeated in league play at 5-0.
 
UWF shot 38 percent overall from the field but was impressive in the second period, shooting 48 percent which included a 53 percent (9-17) from the three-point line.  Xavier Washington once again led the Argos with 19 points and nine boards, while three other Argos in Eli Brown, Tautvydas Kupstas and Channick Nkoma, registered 17, 15 and 10 points respectively.  Brown and Kupstas recorded five made threes apiece.

"Tonight, we came out slow and gave West Georgia a lot of confidence to play their game", stated UWF Head Coach Justin Mann.  "We dug ourselves a hole in the first half and were able to get back into the game but allowed the finish the half stronger than us.  Even though West Georgia extended their second half lead to 19, I was proud to see our fight in the last nine minutes of the game and cut the lead back down to four.  Unfortunately, when you are playing the 11th ranked team in the country you have to play a full 40 minutes and we did not do that tonight."
 
Sterling White III totaled seven assists and no turnovers to bring his season assist-to-turnover margin at 12 (36 assists to three turnovers) while Washington and Nkoma added a combined nine assists between the two of them.
 
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than four, midway through the frame. After a Myles Ruth lay-up to give the Argos their lone lead of the game at 15-13, West Georgia responded with a 7-2 run to build a five-point lead with just over eight minutes left in the period.  UWF cut the deficit to one, but the visitors closed the half on a 12-3 run, taking a 39-29 lead into the locker room.
 
West Georgia came out of the break hot and extended the lead to 15 on a lay-up by Michael Griffin at the under 16-minute media timeout.  The visitors maintained the big advantage, leading by as many as 19 points, before UWF trimmed the deficit to single digits on a three-pointer by Washington with 3:50 remaining to put the score at 74-66. A three-pointer by Kupstas and a dunk by Nkoma cut the lead to only four with 25 seconds left, but it was not enough as two free-throws from Zawdie Jackson and one from Marlon Smith, put the game away.
 
Camron Donatlan led the way for the Wolves with 22 points, with Jackson adding 19 points and a team-high seven assists.  Amari Davis registered 15 points and 10 rebounds.

"Now, we need to carry those last nine minutes and build on that in practice and take it with us on the road trip", continued Mann.  Again, I am proud of our guys on how hard they fought down the stretch. Go Argos."
 
UWF will be back in action on Friday night as they travel to Union.  Tip-off in Jackson, Tennessee is set for 7:30 pm.
 
For the latest on the UWF Men's Basketball Team, please visit GoArgos.com or follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @UWFMensBBall.