BOX SCORE

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Rodney Bryant made a jumper with 10 seconds left to lift the UWF Men's Basketball Team past West Alabama, 69-67, on Saturday afternoon inside the UWF Field House.
 
West Florida finishes their season at 8-20 and 6-18 in Gulf South Conference play.  UWA ends their regular season at 18-10 and 15-9 in GSC action.  UWA opens Gulf South Tournament action as the fourth seed in the tournament.
 
UWF started their three seniors on senior day in Channick Nkoma, Michael Maumbe and Tautvydas Kupstas and all three made an impact.  Kupstas tallied a team-high four assists, while Maumbe in his first career start, registered five points.  Nkoma had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Le'Tarion White came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points while Bryant added 15 points, eight rebounds and four steals.  The Argonauts shot 49 percent from the field, boosted by 59 percent mark in the second half and had a great defensive performance, with the 67 points being the first time that UWF has held an opponent under 72 points since the Argonauts held West Alabama to 58 in early January.
 
"I just want to congratulate those 3 seniors for everything they have poured into this program", said UWF Head Coach Justin Mann.  "That was a hard-fought game between two good teams tonight! The resilency these guys have showed all year is quite impressive. With our backs against the wall with no bid to the playoffs, we came out hard and adjusted really well after halftime and held them to only one offensive rebound."
 
The first half was low scoring with neither team gaining a large advantage until UWA grabbed a 22-15 lead, the largest margin at that point, at the 8:35 mark of the first period.  West Alabama grew the lead to as many as nine before UWF cut the deficit to six, 38-32, as the teams headed into the locker room.
 
UWA came out of the locker room on fire, scoring the first seven points of the second period to gain a 45-32 advantage.  West Alabama kept the Argos at a distance, holding an 11-point lead with 7:14 to go, before a 14-0 Argonaut run gave UWF a three-point lead with 2:30 in the second period.  Four three-frows from Terry Durham cut the lead to one, before White hit a jumper for UWF to push the lead back to three with 1:06 remaining.
 
Caleb McGill knocked down a three for the visitors to tie the match-up with 41 seconds left, setting up Bryant's game-winning jumper.  UWA had one more opportunity but a a three-pointer by Thaddeus Williams was off the mark.
 
C.J Melton, Williams and Jaylen Lemons all had 15 points for the Tigers as UWA shot 39 percent from the field.  Melton led the Tigers with eight rebounds.
 
"The growth in some of our guys and to win the last game of the season provides us with momentum going into next season", continued Mann.  "Thanks to our fans tonight.  They were phenomenal and thanks to our administration for all they do. Go Argos!"
 
UWF will look ahead to the 2024-25 season with only three seniors on the current team.
 
For the latest on the UWF Men's Basketball Team, please visit GoArgos.com or follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @UWFMensBBall.