Box Score

MONTEVALLO, Ala.- Despite 20 points and 13 rebounds from Tarik Mckelphin and 18 points from forward Wendell Matthews, the UWF Men's Basketball Team fell, 80-77, Tuesday night at Montevallo at Trustmark Arena.
 
The loss drops West Florida to 2-6 while Montevallo improves to 2-0.
 
Tuesday night saw the Argos have their best first-half scoring output at 43 points, as they led by six at the half behind 12 points each from Mckelphin and Matthews.  As a team, UWF shot 17-29 from the field (58.6) and 3-6 from beyond the arc.
 
The second half-started out with more of the same as Tarik and Wendell led the visitors on an 11-2 scoring run to open the second period and give the Argos a 54-39 advantage with 15:04 remaining, with the duo tallying eight of the 11 points.
 
The 15-point lead was the largest by either team during the contest.
 
West Florida kept a steady double-digit lead, with Akili Vining knocking down a trey with 11:24 left to put UWF up 61-48.  However, Montevallo would steadily creep back into the game, eventually taking the lead at 68-66 with 6:53 left on a James McNeil three-pointer. Mcneil finished the game with 16 points on 7-12 shooting.
 
The Argos would get to within one-point at two different times late in the fourth quarter on a lay-up by Conor Flanagan and a three from guard Kendall Bynum.  Bynum bested his last outing by putting up a new-career high with eight points.  The effort was all for not as UM guards, Xavier Malcolm and Travarus "Bob" Caroll, knocked down free-throws late.  Malcolm led all scorers with 21 points.
 
For the contest, West Florida shot 53.3 percent (32-60) from the field compared to Montevallo's 39.7 percent (29-73), with the Argos out-rebounding UM 43-33 as well.  The 53 percent field-goal percentage is the Argonaut's best all year, outpacing the 50 percent mark against AUM on January 9^th.
 
UWF will have a few days off before returning to action at home against Shorter on January 29^th and 30^th.  Tip-off against the Hawks is set for 6:30 pm on Friday and 3:00 pm on Saturday.

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