Jan. 7, 2008
PENSACOLA, Fla. - The UWF men's basketball team destroyed Delta State in the UWF Fieldhouse Monday night, to show that they may be one of the best teams in the Gulf South Conference. The Argonauts literally embarrassed Delta State in the first half, doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and rolled out to a 42-16 halftime lead. The Argonauts had 11 steals and four blocked shots in the first half. Josh Jackson was red hot, hitting all his shots for 14 points. Delta State did hit six three pointers in the second half to avoid total embarrassment, after being behind by 30 points early in the second half.
Delta State, 5-6 on the season, was never in the game, and trailed from the beginning, and only shot 19 percent from the field, as they appeared to be intimidated by the Conference block leader Charles Bouie. Bouie had two blocks and three steals in the first half, and numerous altered shots helping to promote the poor shooting by the Statesmen. Ryan Henry had seven points and six rebounds in the first half. The lone bright spot for Delta State in the first half was 12 offensive rebounds that led to almost half of their points. Without the offensive rebounds the Statesmen could have been trailing by 30 points.
Interestingly, the Argonauts did not have any offensive rebounds in the first half, however, they didn't miss many shots, so the opportunities were limited. West Florida shot 59 percent in the first half. If things weren't bad enough for the Statesmen, they were a pitiful 2 for 8 from the Free throw line, as they maybe were seeing Charles Bouie flying thru the air. When it was all complete, Delta State did win the rebound war 47-46.
Head Coach Don Hogan was pleased with the team effort, "we played great defensively, and we battled well on the boards. We did give up too many offensive rebounds, but overall, our defensive intensity was great, and our man to man defense shut them down." Josh Jackson led all scorers with 17 points, while Kenny Holmes, Ryan Henry and Deondre Boynton were also in double digits. Meanwhile, defensive specialists Charles Bouie ended the night with three blocks and three steals.
Coach Hogan liked some of the efforts from his players. "Josh (Jackson) comes in and gives us an offensive spark, to go with the great shooting of (Ryan) Henry. With Charles (Bouie) and Kenny (Holmes) sitting much of the first half with foul trouble, I was real proud of the two `Lukes,' as both (Lucas) Evangelista and (Lucas) Malone really battled on the boards for us." Evangelista and Malone combined for six rebounds and three steals off the bench.
The Gulf South Conference leader in rebounds, Kenny Holmes, did not have a rebound in the first half, as he sat most of the half with two fouls. However, the lanky leaper was all over the place in the second half. Even with a twenty point lead, Holmes was diving on the floor for loose balls and taking charges. "Kenny (Holmes) gets on the floor and just plays hard all the time, he is the kind of player that you hope rubs off on everyone else," commented Hogan on his rebounding king.
The Argonauts, now 10-4, will battle North Alabama in the conference opener next Saturday at 2:30 pm. West Florida is taking some great momentum into conference play, as they lead the entire conference in field goal percentage defense as a team, and blocked shots as a team. Today' win over Delta State was just more of the same, as UWF held Delta State to just 29 percent shooting and blocked seven shots.
