Box Score

CLEVELAND, Tenn.- Conor Flanagan had 23 points and six rebounds but West Florida could not overcome a blistering second-half shooting performance from Lee as the Argos fell, 83-70, Friday night at Paul Dana Walker Arena.

The loss drops UWF to 2-4 while the Flames improve to 6-1 on the season.

It was a tale of two halves as West Florida 46 percent from the field in the first half, while LU exploded in the second half, shooting 71 percent from the field and 58 percent from the three-point line, en route to a 53 point period.

"We played a tremendous first half", UWF head coach Jeff Burkhamer said. "Lee played a tremendous second half.  Five them credit, they really guarded and executed better than we did in last 20 minutes of game action."

Flanagan and guard Tarik Mckelphin got the Argonauts off to a quick 10-6 lead, as they each scored five points in the opening minutes.  Fellow guard, Akili Vining, came off the bench to provide a scoring lift to the second unit, putting in nine quick points as the Argos extended their lead.  Vining would go on to score 15 points on the night.

Mckelphin and forward Wendell Matthews, the only other player to score off the bench for UWF, controlled the game to close the half as the lead got up to seven, the biggest lead of the night for UWF, before the two teams ultimately went into halftime with the visitors up four.

Both teams traded punches early in the second period with Flanagan knocking down two straight three-pointers to open the period, while the Flames' Jayce Willingham scored 10 points of his own to even the game at 40.  After that, the home team really turned up the heat, going on a 30-15 run over the next 10 minutes to put the Argos essentially out of reach, with the lead growing as large as 16 in the second half.  Willingham had a game-high 25 points on 10-14 shooting, including going 5-10 from downtown.

The Argos did cut the lead to only eight with 4:30 remaining following a Cameron Cox jumper, but LU proved to be too much growing their lead back up to 15 in the closing minutes with Michael McGuirk and Jayce Willingham each knocking down a three in the process, with Willingham adding a dunk.  Lee fed off paint points, totaling 40 on the night.

UWF was able to win the rebounding battle with Flanagan and Cox each having six, with Mckelphin grabbing five off the glass as well.  Matthews had four rebounds of his own.

The two teams return to action tomorrow with an afternoon match-up at 1 pm.  "We have to proepare quickly to play them again tomorrow", Burkhamer added.  "It will be another challenge."

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