Carrollton, GA - In the first game of the 2014-15 season as a ranked team for West Georgia men's basketball, the Wolves ran into a hot-shooting Union squad in the first half, then fell just short in a second-half comeback attempt, falling 88-81 Thursday evening at The Coliseum.

\The Wolves were ranked 24th in the most recent NABC Top-25 and sat at the top of the Gulf South Conference coming into Thursday night's contest. Union, which spent much of the first half of the season in the first place spot in the GSC, was looking for a season-sweep of the Wolves in their first season where the Bulldogs are eligible for postseason play.

Union came out firing on all cylinders, quickly building a 19-4 lead in the first five minutes of the contest, on the back of Corieon Pearson, who had nine of the Bulldogs first 19 points. Union continued to score at a quick pace, and when the dust cleared at the end of the first half, West Georgia found themselves in a 51-37 hole. But that was not the biggest lead of the game, as Union led by as many as 20 points in the first half.

In the second half, the Wolves began to chip away at the Union lead, as UWG outscored Union by a 23-13 total in the first 10 minutes of the half, and with 10:34 left in the game, Union was staring at a slim 64-60 lead. The next two minutes would look to be backbreaking, as the Bulldogs pushed their advantage back out to 11 with 8;34 left.

But West Georgia came roaring back after trailing 76-66 with with 7:10 remaining in the contest. The Wolves went on a 12-0 run over the next three minutes, and with 4:17 left in the game, a steal and a layup from senior guard Alex Abreu put West Georgia on top by a 78-76 mark. But over the final four minutes of the game, the UWG offense went cold, scoring just three more points while the Bulldogs went on a 12-3 run to hand UWG just its second home loss of the season.

Deonta Stocks led the Wolves with 25 points on the night, followed by Abreu with 22 as the only UWG players in double-figures. Emory Bernard came just two points shy of a double-double in the contest, scoring eight points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Abreu was in the giving mood with his second eight-assist night on the year.

West Georgia falls to 16-5 on the season and 11-5 in Gulf South Conference play. The Wolves were tied with Shorter at the top of the GSC, but the Hawks also lost on Thursday night, keeping the tie, but Alabama Huntsville also picked up a victory and there is a three-way tie at the top. The night was good for UWG and Shorter, as Valdosta State lost, which mathematically put both UWG and Shorter into the GSC tournament.

UWG will play in game two of a four-game homestand on Saturday afternoon, taking on the Christian Brothers Buccaneers at 4 p.m. at The Coliseum.