Jan. 5, 2008
PENSACOLA, Fla. - West Florida's fast paced offense and high pressure defense was too much for Wesley College to take as the Argonauts rolled to a 93-70 win Saturday afternoon at the UWF Fieldhouse. Kenny Holmes picked up 18 points, 7 rebounds and 7 steals en route to the victory, as teammates Ryan Henry lead all scorers with 25 points, while Deondre Boynton dished out 10 assists. West Florida improved to 9-4 on the season, the best winning percentage of any team in the East Division of the Gulf South Conference.
Head Coach Don Hogan was glad to see his team get back on track. "We did a great job defensively keeping Wesley College to below 35 percent shooting from the field for the game. We finally did a good job on the boards after a very slow start rebounding, and we finished well in transition." The Argos led the Conference in Field Goal percentage defense, which is a credit to great team defense. "Rod (Doss) did a nice job defensively on (Terrence) Robinson, their leading scorer, added Hogan.
Deondre Boynton is leading the conference in assists, and Coach Hogan knows he is important. "He (Boynton) did a great job distributing the ball, but needs to cut down on the turnovers, commented Hogan. Offensively, Coach Hogan was pleased with Henry and Holmes. "Ryan (Henry) shot the ball well, and he is a great weapon for us. We would have gone more to Kenny (Holmes) if Wesley College was in a man to man defense, but Kenny can create his own offense with offensive rebounds." Holmes, the conference leader in rebounding, helped the team today with scoring and steals. Holmes explained, "It begins with my defensive play. I play defense and get all the loose balls and stay active at both ends of the court."
It took both teams some time to warm up and after five minutes of action the game was tied 6 a piece. The high defensive intensity from both teams continued to rule the early pace to the game as the teams combined for six turnovers, five steals and three blocks in the first eight minutes of the game, and the Argonauts clung to an 11-10 lead.
The dismal shooting continued over the few minutes and after 10 minutes of play West Florida was shooting 33 percent from the field, while Wesley held a one point lead, at 12-11, despite shoot just 23 percent. Over the next five minutes the Argonauts offense began to heat up as they nearly doubled the Warriors output to take a 25-20 lead, despite grabbing half as many rebounds, 24-12, than their opponents, up to that point. West Florida would close out the half on an 11-5 run to take a 36-25 lead going into the break.
At the half Ryan Henry led the Argonauts with 10 points, while teammate Kenny Holmes had eight point and six rebounds. West Florida improved on their early shooting woes and ended the half shooting 42 percent for the field, whereas Wesley College was only shooting 21 percent.
The second half opened to high paced basketball and the two teams nearly matched each other's score through the first four minutes with the Argonauts holding on to a double digit lead at 47-35. Over the next six minutes the Warriors would attempt to cut into Argonauts lead, but would only get the deficit to eight points before West Florida increased their lead back to 12 with nine minutes left to play. The Argonauts would continue to add to their lead during the next three minutes as they went on a 9-2 run giving them a 72-53 lead. From there, the Argonauts put it in cruise control.
Max Hoggard with 14 points, Rodd Doss with 12 points, and Charles Bouie with 11 points, gave the Argonauts five players in double digit scoring. David Maddux came off the bench to grab a team high seven rebounds (tied with Holmes and Henry) in nine minutes of play, to go along with five points, a block, and a steal. Bouie tacked on four blocks and leads the conference with 47 blocks in 13 games. Lucas Evangelista also rejected a couple of Wesley College shots, as the Argonauts had a team total of 10 blocked shots. Wesley College, 8-11 on the season, was led by Josh Cole and Terrence Robinson, with 23 points each. Cole also grabbed a game high 15 rebounds, and had six steals.
Overall, West Florida continued to show a strong defensive presence, good passing and balanced scoring. Tonight is was also some hot shooting down the stretch of the game as they rolled to the 23 point victory. It is the Argonauts sixth win in their last seven contests. Up next for West Florida is Gulf South Conference West Division foe Delta State on Monday night with Tip off at the UWF Fieldhouse scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game is scheduled for broadcast via stretch internet. Check the stretch internet link on the UWF Athletics home page.
