CARROLLTON, Ga. - The University of West Georgia men's basketball team improved to 2-1 on the season and 2-0 in Gulf South Conference play with a thrilling 75-73 victory over the Christian Brothers Buccaneers on Tuesday night inside the Coliseum.
Despite allowing the Bucs to shoot over 60% in the second half, the Wolves hung on to secure the win in front of their home crowd.
"Give CBU credit because they played really really well", said head coach Dave Moore. "They got guys that can make shots and they made shots tonight. It was hard for us to get stops, so we tried to mix in the zone to try to get them out of rhythm. I'm really proud of our guys. The last six minutes we really dug in and we battled."
The first five minutes of the contest were back and forth, with the biggest lead being four points by UWG, before Cole Fisher hit a big three pointer to put the Wolves up seven. The Buccaneers would not stay quiet for long, as they took a three of their own from Madison Monroe and a layup from Daniel Loos to cut the lead back to two.
The first half continued to be a slugfest with the score being tied 23-23 at the halfway point. CBU would take their largest lead of the half, at four, with seven minutes to go. At that point, the Wolves went on a 12-5 run to end the half, following a three pointer from Kolten Griffin and layups from Zawdie Jackson and Fisher. Another layup from Griffin and a free throw from Jackson ended the half with the Wolves leading 35-32.
Fisher was the leading scorer for the Wolves, ending the half with nine points on 4-8 shooting from the field. Michael Zabetakis and Jackson followed closely behind with seven points each. Kolten Griffin finished the half with five rebounds, and Zawdie Jackson finished with six assists.
For the Buccaneers, Daniel Loos led in scoring with eight total points, and Madison Monroe followed with five. Luke Gdowski finished with three assists, and the fifth best rebounder in the GSC, Darrell Johnson, led with five boards.
Both teams came out at the half and once again traded buckets for the first 10 minutes of the second half, as neither side held a lead of more than three points. With just under seven minutes to play, CBU took a six point lead after four free throws from Gdowski. Back-to-back three pointers by Zabetakis cut the lead to just two with four and a half minutes to play.
The Bucs answered immediately with a 5-0 run in the next two minutes of gameplay, holding the five point lead with just over two minutes left. Jackson then went on a personal 4-0 run, including a big jumper to cut the lead to one. The Wolves then found their big man Jalen Sasser for a layup in the middle, giving the Wolves their first lead since the 15:32 mark of the second half.
Zabetakis made 1-2 free throws to cushion the lead to two, and the Wolves defense held the Bucs shotless for the final nine seconds, securing the 75-73 victory.
"These Gulf South games are going to come down to the last couple of minutes because it's such a good league", coach Moore continued. " The team that can get stops, rebound, make foul shots, and execute at the end usually is the team that's going to win and we executed at the end, got the stops that we needed and were fortunate to come out with a win."
Zabetakis led the Wolves in scoring with 22 for the night on 8-13 shooting and a blistering 5-7 from deep. Zawdie Jackson recorded the first double-double of his UWG career with an 18-point, 11 assist performance, while going 10-12 from the charity stripe. Kolten Griffin came two rebounds shy of a double-double of his own, finishing with 14 points and 8 rebounds.
Christian Brothers shot the ball at a 67% clip in the second half, going 16-24 from the floor and 4-6 from three. The Wolves countered with a shooting percentage of 52% and 56% from three.
West Georgia will be back on the road on Saturday when they travel to Jackson, Tennessee for a conference matchup against the Union Bulldogs.
