A solid shooting West Florida team got out to an early lead that they held throughout to defeat Clark Atlanta 88-79 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference/Gulf South Conference Challenge in Fort Valley, Ga., Saturday. 

West Florida (2-0) hit 57 percent of their shots in the first half, going 20-of-35 to run out to a 48-31 halftime lead over Clark Atlanta (1-1).as UWF's Daniiel Solfield, Wendell Matthews, and Darrin Jenkins led the Argonauts with 28 points and going 13-of-16 from the floor.   CAU, coming off a hot shooting day on Friday, had cooled off, hitting just 35 percent of their first half shots. 

CAU's 14-2 run to start the second half, capped by Jalen Williams' 3-pointer with 15:52 remaining made it 50-45.   But West Florida went on a 14-7 run of their own to extend the lead to 12 points, a lead they extended to twenty points four times in the second half to take the win. 

Williams led CAU with 23 points, including three 3-pointers.  He also had eight rebounds and two steals.  Demetrius Headspeth had 17 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, while Chris Martin added 16 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Justin Longstreet finished with ten points, four rebounds, five assists and a steal. 

Solfield led West Florida with 19 points and six rebounds, while Conor Flanagan had 13 points and five rebounds. LaTrell Tate had 12 points, while Matthews finished with ten points. 

Clark Atlanta will be at L.S. Epps Gymnasium on Wednesday, Nov. 17 for their home opener against Winston-Salem State.  Tip-off is at 6 p.m.