University of West Florida

Box Score

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Behind Tarik Mckelphin's 32 points and 12 rebounds, the University of West Florida men's basketball opened the 2020-21 campaign by cruising past Lee, 79-66, at the UWF Field House on Saturday afternoon.

The win for the Argos is the first season-opening win since the 2018-19 season when the team knocked off Fort Valley State.

Mckelphin's 32 points (12-21 FG, 3-7 3PT) was the most by an Argonaut since Darryl Tucker's 33 point-performance also against Lee on February 1st, 2018.  A native of Plant City, Florida, Mckelphin set a career-high in points and tied a career-high in rebounds with 10 on the day.

UWF (1-0, 1-0 in the GSC), got off to a quick start, building a 16-4 lead in the first five and a half minutes of game action.  Five of those points were by fellow senior guard Cameron Cox, who chipped in eight points and five boards. 

Lee (0-1, 0-1 in the GSC), led by guards Makhi McGuire and Michael McGuirk who had 20 and 13 points in the game respectively, were able to cut the UWF lead to 37-31 at the half.

After the flames got to within a point at 37-36 at the 18:36 mark of the second half, the Argos would never lead by less than six and got the lead up to 18 at one point.

The last third of the senior guard trio for the Argonauts, Brett Carter Jr., had eight of his 12 points in the second half to help close out the game.  The Huntersville, native also chipped in four rebounds.

Overall, the Argonauts shot 44 percent as a team from the field and almost 41 percent from the three-point line with Tate Mulkey, Conor Flanagan and Daniel Sofield, each hitting one.

West Florida's team defense was one of the key stories of the game as they held pre-season all conference guard, Quay Kennedy, to just 15 points on 4-15 shooting while the Flames overall only shot 32.8 percent from the field in the entire game.

UWF will have six days off before returning home to face Auburn Montgomery on December 18th and 19th.  Tip-off versus the Hawks is scheduled for 6:30pm on Friday, December 18th while the Saturday game will tip at 3pm.

For the latest information on UWF men's basketball, please visit goargos.com or follow the team on Twitter @UWFMensBBall.