Box Score

PENSACOLA, Fla.- The UWF Men's Basketball Team fell for the first time at home this season, 84-76, to Gulf South Conference foe West Georgia on Saturday afternoon inside the UWF Field House.

West Florida drops to 2-3 while UWG improves to 2-5 on the season.

"A disappointing day for us, we just did not play as hard as we needed to today", UWF Men's Basketball Coach Jeff Burkhamer said.  "I know we are a better team and I am confident we will bounce back next weekend against Lee."

Five Argonauts scored in double-figures on the day, led by sophomore forward Daniel Sofield who had 17 points.  Tarik Mckelphin and Wendell Matthews each had 16, along with Cameron Cox and Conor Flanagan tallying 13 and 11 points, respectively.  Mckelphin finished with a team-high 11 rebounds, while Matthews cleaned up eight boards of his own, pacing the blue and white to a 36-29 rebounding advantage over the Wolves on the night.

West Georgia got off to an early 10-point lead at 19-9, with under 12 minutes left behind a combined 10 points from forwards Michael Zabetakis and Deng Nhial.  Zabetakis finished with a team-high 25 points and seven rebounds.  The Wolves attacked all game, shooting 54.2 percent from the field.

The Argos were able to climb back into the game thanks to Matthews' scoring 12 of the next 17 points for West Florida to give UWF a 26-25 lead with 5:19 remaining in the first period.  Sofield's three-pointer with 4:38 in the first half gave the blue and white their largest lead of the contest, with the teams trading baskets after that with Nhial ultimately hitting a corner three to put the Wolves up, 41-40, at the half.

Second-half play was more of the same as West Georgia's lead never grew by more than five points through the first five minutes of the final period.  A Zabetakis lay-up put the visitors up seven, before Mckelphin quickly tied the game with seven straight points to put the score at 61 apiece at the under 12 media timeout.

Unfortunately, UWG would not allow the Argos to take the lead as they took 13 of the next 19 points, capped off by a Kadeim Jones three-point field goal with 4:38 remaining, which ice the game.

West Florida was efficient from the field, shooting 44 percent overall and 43 percent from beyond the arc, as well as connecting on 83 percent from the free-throw line.  Matthews' 16 points was a key in the Argos outscoring the Wolves, 19-11, off the bench, while his six rebounds helped give UWF 16 second-chance points.

The Argonauts will have six days off before traveling to Cleveland, Tennessee for a two-game weekend series at Lee.  Tip-off on Friday night is scheduled for 6 pm ET, while the Saturday contest is at 2 pm ET.

"Lee is a very good team and they are coming off quite the weekend against Valdosta State", Burkhamer added.  "We need to have a great week of practice and we have to work really hard on the defensive end.  Our execution needs to be better, we need to make shots as we have a big weekend ahead of us.

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