Box Score

VALDOSTA, Ga.- The UWF Men's Basketball team had three players score at least 17 points, but they were unable to contain the red-hot shooting of Valdosta State as West Florida fell 95-83 on Tuesday night at The Complex in Valdosta.

The loss drops the Argos to 2-2 while VSU improves to 6-0.

Tarik Mckelphin lead all Argonauts with 24 points and 11 rebounds to record his second double-double of the season, while guards Daniel Sofield and Tate Mulkey each pitched in 17 points.  The 17 points for Mulkey set a new career-high as he shot 7-13 from the field, including two three-point field goals.

In the first half, UWF played a strong game going to toe-to-toe with the fifth-ranked team in America as Mckelphin and Mulkey combined for 22 points.  The play was very sloppy as the Blazers lead 9-2 at the 14:35 mark of the first half before the blue and white stormed back and took the lead at 20-18 following a lay-up from freshman Kendall Bynum.  The lay-up from Bynum gave the Argos their only lead of the game with 8:39 remaining.

From there, the teams would trade baskets before Daniel Sofield hit a lay-up on a baseline out-of bounds from Conor Flanagan to knot up the game at 33.  That was the closest the game would be after that as VSU hit three straight treys en route to a 48-37 lead at the break.

The Blazers would continue their onslaught of triples in the second half, as they would knock down eight more three-pointers in the period.  For the game, VSU was 17-33 from downtown (52 percent), with guard Cam Hamilton connecting on eight of them.  Hamilton led the Blazers with 29 points in the contest as he shot 10-15 from the field.  As a team, Valdosta shot 37-72 from the field for the contest.

Valdosta State would stretch the lead to 21 in the closing half off a tip-in by Malik Hunt with 10:22 remaining.  Hunt lead all VSU players with eight rebounds, contributing to the Blazers, 44-38, advantage on the glass.

UWF would fight back to make it a 13-point game following a Daniel Sofield three-pointer with 7:40 remaining, but it was too little, too late as that would be the closest the Argos got until the closing seconds, with the red and black pushing the lead back to 21 late in the match-up.  The trey from Sofield was one of only four makes from West Florida on the night as they shot 4-23 from beyond the arc.

The Argonauts did outshoot the Blazers from the charity stripe, as they shot 90 percent compared to VSU's 33 percent, and they also had 62 points in the paint, along with 29 bench points to the Blazers' 24 with Mulkey's 17 points playing a large part in that.

West Florida will have a week off before returning home to face West Georgia on Tuesday, January 19th.  Tip-off from the UWF Field House is set for 6:30 pm.

For the latest on the UWF Men's Basketball Team, please visit goargos.com or follow the team on Twitter @UWFMensBBall.