NICEVILLE, Fla.—The Lynn University men's basketball team fell to the West Florida Argonauts 77-75 in overtime on Friday despite a 22 point performance from freshman Brandon Smith in the SSC/GSC Crossover Tournament host by West Florida.
In the first period, the Argos of West Florida jumped out to a 5-0 lead and looked to take control of the game. After a Jerrell Oxendine three cut the lead down to two at 5-3, West Florida pushed their advantage to 12 on 10-straight points with 14:29 left in the first half.
Just past the halfway point of the first period, the Fighting Knights foundthemselves down 19 with the score Lynn 8, West Florida 27. The Blue & White continued to battle and by the end of the first period, Lynn cut thedeficit down to 12 and entered half time with the score 39-27 in favor of the Argos.
Out of the locker room, West Florida capitalized on their first possession of the second half to stretch their tilt back to 14 on a layup by Marquis Mathis to make it 41-27. With 16:09 left in the second half, DeMario Fountain capped off an 11-4 run after a steal then converting on a layup for the Fighting Knights and forced a West Florida time out with the score 45-38 to the Argos advantage.
Lynn continued to fight its way back into the game but with less than 08:17 left in the game, the Knights were still down by 14 at 61-47. Then with 04:46 left, Fountain made a layup to cut the lead down to 10 and the Lynn comeback was on as the Knights posted a 13-1 run to take a two point lead with 01:39 to play. With 00:14 seconds left, West Florida's Peter Connole connected on a jumper to tie things up at 69 and send the game to overtime.
Both teams traded buckets for most of the overtime period and with 00:37 left in overtime, Smith tied things up once again on a fast break layup. But West Florida's last second prayers were answered on a game-winning shot by Jamar Moore with no time on the clock.
In his first career game as a Fighting Knight, Smith tallied 22 points, two assists and a rebound on a game-high 42 minutes of play. The freshman was 8-11 from the field and 5-7 from behind the arc. Josh Garcia had 15 points and Fountain collected 14 and four boards. Bo Jukic led the squad in rebounds with six and added six points.
Lynn continues play in the SSC/GSC Crossover Tournament tomorrow versus West Alabama at 1 p.m. Go to LynnFightingKnights.com for live stat coverage.
