VALDOSTA, Ga. – The UWG men's basketball team snapped their three-game skid and picked up their second conference win of the season with an 86-79 win over Valdosta State on Saturday night.
A balanced offensive output and stout second half defense lifted the Wolves over the Blazers to improve West Georgia's record to 3-4 on the season.
Valdosta State was a step ahead of UWG to start the game as the Blazers took an 11-5 lead into the first media timeout. The Wolves would quickly find their offensive rhythm as an 18-4 run, sparked by a
Tommaso Gini layup, put West Georgia ahead 23-15 halfway through the first half.
The Wolves would hold the lead at eight for a couple of minutes before VSU went on a run of their own to retake the lead with six minutes left in the half. The two teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half with
Keshawn Heard beating the buzzer with a three pointer to send us to halftime with Valdosta State up 49-46.
The Wolves shot 53.3% from the field in the first half, but West Georgia just couldn't get enough stops in the half as the Blazers shot 60% from the field.
UWG locked in on the defensive side of the ball in the second half as they held the Blazers to a 31% field goal percentage and 0% from three.
Right out of the halftime break,
Michael Zabetakis buried a three to tie the game at 49. The two teams then went back-and-forth as nine lead changes occurred in the first 10 minutes of the half until the Wolves used a 7-0 run to take the biggest lead of the half as the score sat at 71-65.
The Blazers fought back to cut the West Georgia lead to one with six minutes remaining in the game before both teams traded 8-1 runs to make it a one point game with just 23 seconds left. To come out with a win, UWG had to hit their late game free-throws, which they did, as
Kadeim Jones and
Jalen Sasser went perfect from the line to ice the game for the Wolves.
Kadeim Jones led West Georgia offensively with a team-high 19 points along with a team-high seven rebounds.
Seth Brown-Carter added 18 points while also grabbing six rebounds. UWG will be back in action on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. conference matchup against West Alabama.
