Carrollton, GA - It took just three minutes of game time for the West Georgia men's basketball team to be running on high gear Saturday night at The Coliseum, as the Wolves trailed just once during the contest against Morehouse en route to a double-digit, 101-78 victory over the Maroon Tigers in the Wentz Financial GSC/SIAC Challenge.
West Georgia trailed 5-4 with 17:28 left, but a jumpshot by sophomore All-American candidate Deonta Stocks put the Wolves up for good, as the Wolves went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to build a 14-5 advantage. Using a high-pressure defense and a high-octane offense, the Wolves kicked into high gear, building a 28-10 lead on a three-pointer from sharpshooter
Zach Taulien with 9:45 left in the first half.
Things settled down at that point, as the two teams traded blows for the final 10 minutes of the opening period and the Wolves went into the locker room at the break with a 47-31 advantage. The Wolves' biggest advantage came with just under two minutes left in the half, as
Marcus Dortch hit a pair of free-throws to put West Georgia up 47-28.
Stocks and Abreu each had double-figure scoring nights by the time the teams headed to the half, as both had 10 points at halftime.
In the second half, the Wolves heated up again, outscoring the Maroon Tigers by a 7-0 tally to take a 55-31 lead just two minutes into the second half. The Wolves' lead reached as much a 25 in the first ten minutes of the period on a pair of free-throws from
Deontre Brown with 14:17 left in the game.
West Georgia continued to keep the pressure up, with the lead reaching it's apex at the 4:00 mark on a layup from
Emory Bernard to give West Georgia a 93-63 lead in the contest. From then on, head coach
Michael Cooney called off the dogs as the Wolves cruised in the final four minutes of the contest.
Stocks led all scorers with 25 points, marking the second-straight game for him with at least 25 points in a game, followed by Abreu with 15 and Bernard added 10 points to round out the double-figure scorers.
Two big team stats stood out for the Wolves on the evening, as West Georgia outrebounded the much bigger Morehouse lineup by a 00-00 tally and the Wolves shot 81.3 percent from the free-throw line as a team after a tough night at the line on Friday. UWG moves to 2-0 on the year with the victory while Morehouse falls to 0-2. West Georgia will host Point University
