Jan. 21, 2008
CARROLLTON, Ga. - The West Florida Men's Basketball team was looking for their first conference win, and was within one point inside of two minutes to play, and then everything went in the favor of West Georgia. The Argonauts, playing without top rebounder Kenny Holmes, had trailed nearly the entire game, then erased a 12 point halftime lead, and had all the momentum before the final two minutes.
Ryan Henry, who led all scorers with 20 points, had scored on a driving layup to move the Argonauts to within one point at 51-50. After a West Georgia timeout with 1:59 to play, the Argonauts played outstanding defense and forced a bad shot from West Georgia; however, Sheldon Harris grabbed the offensive rebound and put in a basket for a three point lead. The ensuing Argos possession was a turnover, which led to a West Georgia fast break basket, and suddenly West Georgia had grabbed the momentum back and held on for the win.
Charles Bouie had an outstanding performance for West Florida with 10 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocked shots. Meanwhile, Harris led West Georgia with 17 points, including the biggest points of the contest, with two baskets in the final two minutes. The Argonauts fall to 10-7 on the season, and 0-3 in the conference, while West Georgia improved to 11-5 on the season, and 4-0 in the conference. Josh Jackson added nine points, while Deondre Boynton dished out five assists to go with six points. Lucas Malone, starting for Holmes, had a strong game with four points, seven rebounds, and a steal.
Head Coach Don Hogan was happy with the Argos effort, but a little frustrated with the final minutes. "We played extremely hard, and I am proud of how hard we played, but we got away from what got us back in the game when it counted in the final two minutes. We shot ourselves in the foot with a few mistakes, and West Georgia came up with two big offensive rebounds in the last two minutes, and that was the difference in the game."
The Argonauts lost their third straight conference game that was decided in the final minutes. Despite the loss, Hogan was upbeat, "we are getting better and better, and doing some real good things. "We had a chance to win today, without Kenny Holmes, and if we can have him healthy for the next game, and build on what we have been doing, we have a chance to reel off several wins. Tonight we did a great job defensively on one of the conference's top scorers (Terrance Hundley), holding him to only 3 of 14 field goals. Josh (Jackson), Rod (Doss), and Ryan (Henry) rotated defensively on him, and did a great job," explained Hogan. Meanwhile, Kenny Holmes is day to day, with a knee injury and will be evaluated this week.
West Florida will be home to host Montevallo, this Saturday at the UWF Fieldhouse. Game time is 2:30 pm, with the Women's game to follow at 4:30 pm. Both games will be broadcast on Stretch internet. The Stretch internet link is on the UWF Athletics home page.