PENSACOLA, Fla. – Some nights a team seemingly hits almost all the shots they toss at the basket. West Florida's Marvin Jones paced the red-hot Argonaut shooters and Rashaan Benson did his share in Thursday evening's 90-81 victory over the battling Lee men's basketball team.
The host Argos shot 54 percent in each half and turned back a late charge by the Flames to improve to 19-8 overall and 13-8 in Gulf South Conference play. The Flames dropped to 11-16 and 7-14.
Jones made 5-of-8 triples and finished the evening with 28 points. Benson hit 4-of-5 3s and tallied 20 points. All totaled the Argonauts had four players in double figures and made 11-of-23 shots from beyond the arc.
"We made adjustments at the half and went more to a man defense in the second half," noted Lee coach Bubba Smith. "West Florida just had a great shooting night and did a good job of executing their offense. Still we had an opportunity to win down the stretch but a couple of turnovers and blown assignments cost us. Give West Florida credit, they have done a good job of turning their season around from last year."
The Flames, down the entire game, fought back and cut the lead to only one point with 7:21 remaining. A turnover and key shots by Jones and Benson quickly turned the tide back in the favor of the Argos.
Keevin Tyus proved almost unstoppable for the West Florida defense. The senior hit 11-of-18 shots from the field and 4-of-4 free throws in finishing with 27 points. Rico Overall was 8-of-15 from the field and countered with 19 points. Levi Woods canned four of his shots, including two 3-pointers, and had 11 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists. Jervon Johnson converted a pair of 3s and totaled 10 points. He also grabbed six rebounds.
"We shot well enough to win most games," pointed out Coach Smith after his Flames shot 51 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range. They also made 13-of-18 charity attempts. The Argos made up the difference at the free-throw stripe, knocking down 19-of-29. They also won the rebound battle 32-30. Moter Deng chipped in with a double-double for the winners, 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Flames will wrap up the 2016-17 season on Saturday when they move on up to face Valdosta State in a 4 p.m. start. The Blazers are currently leading the GSC standings. "I hope we play just as hard and with as much determination as we have all season," remarked Smith. "With the exception of one or two games, our guys have been right in the middle of each contest. It seems like the ball just would not bounce our way during the stretch runs."
