Carrollton, GA - Marcus Dortch scored a career-high 19 points in his first start at UWG Thursday night as the West Georgia Wolves opened Gulf South Conference play in Walter Sillers Coliseum in Cleveland, Miss. with a thrilling 87-84 victory over the Delta State Statesmen.

The win gives the Wolves a seven-game winning streak to open the season and a 1-0 record in Gulf South Conference play. The loss drops Delta State to 3-4 on the season and 0-1 in GSC action.

The first half began with Delta State drawing first blood with a layup from Jack Madgen, but then Marcus Dortch hit a jumper followed by a Deonta Stocks jumper and the Wolves led 4-2. After a pair of free-throws from the Statesmen, Dortch buried a three-pointer with 17:58 left in the period to mark the final lead change of the first half. The junior was on fire early in the half, scoring all 13 of his first half points in the first 12 minutes of the contest.

From then on, Stocks heated up, as the sophomore scored 10 of his 12 points in the final 10 minutes of the first half. But the foul bug struck the Wolves, as West Georgia was called for 12 fouls in the half to Delta State's seven, giving the Statesmen 16 opportunities at the charity stripe, of which they hit 12. West Georgia countered with a solid half at the three-point line, hitting 6-of-14 from beyond the arc.

Stocks hit a three-pointer with 3:37 left in the first half to give West Georgia its biggest lead of the half at 40-31, but the Statesmen then went on a 9-3 run to close out the period, including five straight to end the half that cut the Wolves' lead to 43-40 heading into the locker room.

But the second half was a different story, as Delta State continued that hot streak coming out of the locker room, taking their first lead since the first minute of the contest at 46-45 with 17:19 left in the game. The two teams then had eight different lead changes over the next three minutes, with the Wolves pushing their lead back out to six with 13:30 left in the contest.

The run that pushed West Georgia out back six was a blitz of sorts, as UWG scored eight points in the span of a minute, with all four buckets coming from different players, as the Wolves led by a 59-53 count at that point.

The Statesmen then used the next four minutes to claw back into contention and Alistar Chisolm buried a three-pointer with 9:42 left in the game to take a 68-66 lead. That sparked another two minute span with four lead changes, but the fourth would be the final one of the game on a tip-in from Dortch that put the Wolves up 72-70 with 7:22 left in the game. .

That shot ignited the Wolves' offense, as UWG outscored Delta State 15-8 over the next six minutes, and a pair of three-pointers from Taylor Cochran gave the Wolves an 85-78 lead with 53 seconds left. The Wolves hit just two free-throws in the final minute and Delta State picked up a three-point play and a three-pointer to make the game close, but the Statesmen couldn't hit that final shot to tie the game in the waning seconds.

Five Wolves scored in double-figures on the night, led by Dortch with 19. Stocks added 17 and Cochran had a season-high 14 points, followed by Alex Abreu with 11 and Jovany Austin with 10. The Wolves and Statesmen were tied on the night in the rebounding effort, while West Georgia outshot DSU 52 percent to 50 percent from the field.

West Georgia will now head to Clinton, Miss. on Saturday afternoon to take on the Mississippi College Choctaws in more Gulf South Conference action. The Wolves and Choctaws are set to tip off at 5 p.m. or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game.