PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Alabama men's basketball team secured its first season sweep of West Florida since the 1996-97 season with a 67-66 victory over the Argonauts on Wednesday evening. The win also gives the Tigers (9-13, 4-5 in Gulf South Conference) their first in Pensacola since the 2007-08 campaign.
Alquan Mendenhall finished the night with a game-high 25 points. The Pine Hill, Ala. native connected on 57 percent of his shots from behind the arc in the winning effort. Richard Dixon added 14 points with Ryan Fitch supplying 11 on the night. Fitch also paced the Tigers on the glass with eight rebounds.
UWF used the first five minutes of the opening half to jump out to a 14-4 lead. The Tigers managed to narrow the deficit to two points on numerous occasions before finally breaking through with 6:10 remaining in the opening stanza on a Mendenhall 3-pointer. The trey gave the Red and White its first lead of the contest and concluded a 17-6 scoring spurt for the Red and White. UWA then proceeded to rattle off an 11-4 run after taking the lead to close the half. Mendenhall ended the scoring in the half with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Tigers opened the second stanza with a 7-2 run to capture a 13-point lead at 39-26 – the Red and White's largest of the game. UWA would hold the double digit lead until the 10:22 mark. A Mike Lewis layup capped a 10-2 Argo scoring spurt to tie the game at 48-all – the first of the game – with 6:41 remaining in the contest. A Paul Mitchell dunk 20-seconds later gave the Tigers back the lead.
UWA extended the lead to as much as eight points with just over two minutes remaining in the pivotal affair. The Argos again made a run at the deficit. UWF pulled to within two points on a couple of opportunities before Lewis hit a jumper with a second remaining in the contest that wrapped up the scoring.
Marquis Mathis led the Argos in scoring with 21 points followed by 11points from Lewis. Jamar Moore rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points to go along with a team-best 13 rebounds for the Argos.
West Alabama travels to North Alabama on Saturday, Feb. 19. Tip-off at UNA is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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