PENSACOLA, Fla. – Saturday afternoon's match-up on the campus of the University of West Florida (2-2) was the first road test for the Georgia Southwestern men's basketball team in the 2011-12 season. In a sloppy, grinding type of game, it was only fitting the game would be sealed when Phillip Brown would rebound his own missed free throw with .9 seconds left. Brown would make the front end of the following pair of free throws to give GSW the 64-62 victory in Pensacola, Florida.
GSW faced early adversity after their first two possessions ended with an illegal screen call and a missed Phillip Brown shot from point blank range. The Hurricanes would go into the first media timeout trailing 12-9 with UWF's Jamar Moore scoring eight of the Argonauts first twelve points.
It would take a prayer bank three-point shot from junior Bobby Glover as time expired in the half to give the Hurricanes the 35-34 halftime lead. Neither GSW's offense nor defense would find much consistency throughout the first half. Offensively, GSW was plagued by twelve turnovers, and 58.8% free throw shooting. Conversely, the Blue & Gold were unable to get consecutive stops defensively, which attributed to UWF leading for a vast majority of the first half.
Phillip Brown, Evan Mobley and Marlon Rivera all shared the first half scoring lead for GSW with seven points apiece. Brown also had a first half high on seven rebounds with two blocks and a steal.
UWF's Jamar Moore led all scorers with ten points and a team-high four rebounds for the Argonauts. The forward paced the West Florida scoring attack that shot 43.3% on 13-30 shooting for the half.
A back-and-forth affair carried the game's action for the initial nine minutes of the second half. Each team took turns leading, but GSW would take a 51-47 lead after a Jamon Hawkins three-point play. The game's see-saw pace would continue as runs were answered with runs by the opposition.
The grinding pace of play would end with the Hurricanes leaving Pensacola with the victory. Georgia Southwestern's mediocre offense committed 17 turnovers to just seven assists. The Blue & Gold also finished the night shooting a putrid 15-29 (51.7%) from the charity stripe.
Defensively, the Canes forced 13 turnovers, blocked three shots and outrebounded the Argonauts 38-30 despite conceding a dozen offensive rebounds.
Phillip Brown, who made just enough plays down the stretch to win the game, finished the night with 14 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks on just 4-8 shooting from the field. Evan Mobley led GSW with 15 points and two assists.
UWF's Jamar Moore led all scorers with 18 points on 6-12 shooting. The Argonaut forward also grabbed eight rebounds in the losing effort.
Saturday's victory pushes the GSW record to 2-0, and the Hurricanes will look to improve on their start when they take on Fort Valley State on Monday night at 7:30 pm in the Storm Dome.