Final Box Score

PENSCOLA, Fla. — Stan Gill had a double-double, but it wasn’t enough as the University of West Alabama men’s basketball team couldn’t recover from a 19-point second-half deficit in falling to West Florida 85-81 Monday night in Gulf South Conference play.

“We didn’t come out and do what we had to do,” Tigers head coach Rick Reedy said. “They (UWF) played loose and shot the ball really well. We just dug ourselves a big hole. We didn’t play with a lot of intensity in the first half.”

Gill led West Alabama (10-16 overall, 3-8 GSC) with 26 points and 16 rebounds – 10 coming on the defensive end. Joe Eatmon had 18 points on 6 of 14 shooting from the field and Raymond Shaw added 15 points.

After the two teams traded baskets early in the contest, West Florida used a 10-0 run, capped by a Durosier 3-pointer to grab a 14-4 lead with 16:18 left in the opening half. The Tigers cut the deficit to 16-11 on a layup by Gill with 14:19 remaining in the first half.

Durosier pushed the margin to 24-15 after a 3-pointer with 12:10 left in the half. The Tigers chipped away at the deficit by using a 10-2 run over the next five minutes to pull to within one, 26-25, on a Raymond Shaw 3-pointer with 7:51 remaining. The Argonauts pushed the lead to six, but a Jenario Bunton 3-pointer with 6:44 cut the margin to 31-28.

West Florida closed out the first half on an 11-3 run to take a 42-31 lead into intermission.

West Florida opened the second half on a 10-5 run to push the advantage to 52-36 on a Durosier three-point play with 16:20 remaining in the contest. The Argonauts remained in front by double digits for the next seven minutes and took their largest lead of the game, 70-51, on a 3-pointer by Marcus Grant with 9:05 left.

West Alabama responded by using a 13-0 run, capped by a Raymond Shaw layup with 5:54 to cut the deficit to 70-64. The Argonauts pushed the margin to eight (76-68), but the Tigers answered with a 9-1 run, capped by a Joe Eatmon 3-pointer to tie the game at 77. West Florida extended the lead to as many as five, 84-79, with 35 seconds remaining on a 3-pointer by Daniel Alcorn.

The Tigers got as close as three, 84-81, after a Shaw free throw with 20 seconds left. The Argonauts got a free throw by Alcorn with four seconds left to seal the win.

Durosier led West Florida (10-16, 2-9) with 28 points and eight rebounds. Marcus Grant and Alcorn each had 16 points, while Grant pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds. Deondre Boynton finished with 15 points.

West Alabama concludes regular-season play 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 24 at Pruitt Hall against Gulf South Conference rival Montevallo.