JACKSON, Tenn. - The Union University men's basketball team lost 68-62 to the University of West Florida Thursday night at Fred DeLay Gymnasium/David Blackstock Court. Union dropped to 14-4 overall and 8-2 in the Gulf South Conference. West Florida improved to 15-3 on the season and 9-2 in league play. 

Union is receiving votes in both the NABC Coaches' Poll and the D2SIDA Media poll, just outside the top-25 at the No. 27 and No. 26 spots. West Florida is receiving votes in the NABC Coaches' Poll.

The loss dropped Union into a tie for first place with West Florida and West Alabama, all with two losses.
 
The first half was a close, low scoring, back-and-forth contest. Union led early 9-5 and 11-7 for its largest leads of the half, while West Florida led by as many as three points, 32-29 late in the half. West Florida led 34-32 at the half. The half featured seven ties and 12 lead changes. 

West Florida opened the second half with a 9-2 run to take a 43-34 lead with 17:13 left in the game. Union responded with a 10-2 run over the next almost five minutes to regain the lead, 46-45. In the run, Union's Tyree Boykin scored seven points including a 3-pointer. The back-and-forth play from the first half resumed for the next seven minutes. With 6:51 left, Union led 55-22. However, West Florida was able to make its second big run of the game, a 10-0 run to take a 62-55 lead with 4:15 left. Daniel Sofield hit back-to-back 3-pointers, is third and fourth 3's of the game. 

Union again answered the run, scoring back-to-back baskets from Boykin and Jeremiah Little page to cut the deficit to just three, 62-59 with 1:59 left. After both teams missed opportunities on the following possessions, West Florida sank two free throws with 1:01 left to push the lead back to five, 64-59.  

Out of a UWF timeout, Boykin hit his second 3-pointer of the game with 41 seconds left to make it a 64-62 deficit for Union. With 15 seconds left, UWF's Sofield hit a jumper with 15 seconds left to put Union down four. A couple of free throws and UWF earned the road win 68-62. 

West Florida was 17-of-24 from the free throw line, while Union was 4-of-6.

Union was led by Tylandrius Parks with 15 points and Boykin with 14 points. Boe Nguidjol added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Jeremiah Littlepage scored 10 points with nine boards. Union shot 42 percent from the field and 18 percent (4-22) from 3-point range. 

West Florida was led by Sofield with 22 points including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Jenkins was the only other Argo in double figures with 10 points. The Argos shot 40 percent from the field and 39 percent (5-13) from long range. 

Up next for Union will be a home game, Saturday, January 22 at 4 p.m. versus Valdosta State. 

-UNION-