Nov. 20, 2007
PENSACOLA, Fla. - West Florida and Nova Southeastern put on a long range shooting exhibition in the first half. The Argonauts hit on seven three point shots, while Nova connected on eight three points shots. The Sharks would take a three point lead, 41-38, into halftime. Nova opened the second half on a 12-2 run to grab a 13 point lead. West Florida kept chipping into the lead, but couldn't get any closer than four points, as the Sharks maintained the lead by connecting on 13 of 15 Free Throws in the second half.
The Two teams finished the game with a combined total of 19 three pointers made; however, it was the points from the Free Throw line that was the telltale difference in the end, as Nova scored 16, to only seven made for the Argos. The Sharks, now 1-2 on the season, shot 48% from the field to hold on to the win, despite allowing the Argos to grab 13 offensive rebounds.
West Florida, now 2-1 on the season, was lead by Ryan Henry with 15 points, followed by Josh Jackson with 14. Meanwhile, Oresti Nitsios of Nova Southeastern led all scorers with 18 points, while teammate Tim Coenraad poured in 17 points. The Argos point guard Deondre Boynton had 11 points, seven assists, and three steals, while Charles Bouie added 11 points, eight rebounds and one blocked shot.
Coach Don Hogan liked the three point shoot-out, "we like to score, and we feel comfortable in a shooting contest, we think we have the advantage." However, the game drifted away from a shoot-out to a very physical second half, and Hogan commented on the second half. "We struggled to get back on defense, and we did a little too much one on one. We have a lot of new guys, so the chemistry is not quite there yet, we just need to execute. We like the physical play; however, we lost Vitor (Boccardo) who got banged up pretty hard, and we need him in the very physical games."
Jackson and Henry were hot early, and the Argos raced out to a 9-0 lead, and then extended it to 21-11 following a three pointer from Boynton. Henry hit three 3-pointers in the first ten minutes of the game. However, Nova then also got hot from long range, as they hit on seven of their next 10 three point shots to finish the half.
During the second half, the Argonauts were playing catch up and closed to within four at 55-51, after two Free Throws from Lucas Evangelista with 10:46 remaining. However, the Sharks scored the next 12 points and West Florida could never recover.
The Argonauts will get another shot at Nova Southeastern next month when they travel to Ft. Lauderdale for a December 19th rematch. Coach Hogan is ready for the rematch, "The potential is there for us, we just let a few things get away, and the guys know that, so they will be ready for another shot at Nova." Meanwhile, the next Argonaut opponent will be William Carey College, who comes to town next Tuesday to take on West Florida at 7:30 pm, in the UWF Fieldhouse.
