ROME, Ga.- The Shorter Hawks played their final home game before Christmas on Monday night against the University of West Florida at the Winthrop-King Centre. Despite a valiant effort, the Hawks dropped the game 88-75. 
 
The play of Shorter's Mark Wilcox Jr. was the biggest bright spot on the night for the Hawks. Wilcox Jr. put up a game-high 28 points in the loss, in addition to his five rebounds and a steal. A Wilcox Jr. layup with 7:45 left in the first half put the Hawks up by nine (24-15), which was their biggest lead of the night. The visiting Argonauts started cutting into that lead soon after, and the game was tied at 35 at halftime. 
 
The second half was once again extremely competitive. UWF started separating themselves from the Hawks with 4:23 left in the game, as a Latrell Tate 3-pointer put the Argos in the lead at 75-73 and jumpstarted the team's 13-2 run to finish the game. 
 
Daniel Sofield led the visitors in scoring with 21 points with three rebounds, a block and a steal, while Tate finished second on the team with 18 points and added three rebounds. UWF's Jejuan Weatherspoon led the Argos (9-1, 3-0) in rebounds with nine and added four assists, two steals and two points. 
 
Shorter's Raphael Houssou finished second on the home team with 11 points, along with three rebounds, two assists and three steals. Teammate Ricky Knight Jr. also added ten points, six rebounds, an assist and two steals. Ralph Barnett grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with his nine points. 
 
The Hawks (3-6, 0-4) will be back in action on Saturday at 5 p.m. as they will play at the University of West Alabama.