PENSACOLA, Fla. – UWF played a very strong first half before succumbing to the pressure and transition game of ninth-ranked Valdosta State in a 80-66 loss at the UWF Field House on Thursday night.

UWF moves to 14-13 overall and 11-9 in the Gulf South Conference. The Argonauts, who finished the regular-season, will wait until Saturday's league slate of games is complete to see who they will play in the opening round of the GSC Tournament, which begins on Tuesday.
 
Tarik Mckelphin had a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting with three 3-pointers and a team-best eight rebounds. Cameron Cox 20 points, five rebounds and five assists.
 
"I thought we did a really good job running our game plan at a pretty good pace in the first half," UWF head coach Jeff Burkhamer said. "In the second half, we didn't start as well and that led to easy baskets on their end. I am proud of our effort and thought our guys played hard."
 
UWF shot 42 percent overall and used a very efficient first half to build a 43-41 lead at the midway point.
 
The Argos were 15-of-28 in the opening 20 minutes and connected on 3-of-7 outside shots. Cox was dominant for much of the period, making a number of dynamic plays to draw contact and finishing at the rim. He had 18 points on 6-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-6 at the line.
 
But in the second half, the defensive pressure and strong transition game of the Blazers started to play out. VSU used a 28-11 run to turn a 2-point deficit into a 69-54 lead with 7:40 to play.
 
They finished the game with 22 points off turnovers and outscored the Argos 20-8 in the paint after halftime.
 
Clay Guillozet led VSU (23-3, 17-2) with 20 points and nine boards. The Blazers shot 53 percent overall and had 12 steals of the Argos' 17 turnovers.