CARROLLTON, Ga. - The University of West Georgia men's basketball team moved to 4-0 on the season on Monday after an 86-66 win over the Point University Skyhawks.
 
UWG (4-0) shot 50% from the floor and from three, while holding Point (5-4) to 41.9% from the field and 22% from three, propelling the Wolves to their fourth consecutive double-digit win to begin the season.
 
"I really liked the bench in the first half," said head coach Dave Moore. "Our bench came in and gave us some good quality minutes and got us the lead. For the rest of the first half, we did exactly what we were hoping to do. We defended at a high level and contested shots which led to us holding them to 42% and 22% from three, so I was happy with the first half, but the second was a bit of a different story."

West Georgia got off to a bit of a slow start to begin, shooting 2-8 from the field, leading to a 13-7 lead for Point. A three from Zawdie Jackson woke the Wolves up as it began a 20-3 run to put UWG up 27-16 halfway through the half. From that point on, it was all West Georgia as Braxton Beaty came off the bench and scored seven points while Marlon Smith hit four threes, propelling the Wolves to a 56-31 lead at the half. 
 
Smith recorded 18 points at the break, while Jackson scored 14 which led to UWG's 25-point lead.
 
Tamaury Releford and Camron Donatlan got West Georgia started in the second half as the two combined to score the Wolves' first eight points, extending their lead to 31. Throughout the course of the second half, Smith continued his three-point assault, burying his fifth three to give him 23 points on the night. Alongside Smith, Donatlan kept getting to his spots, scoring nine points in the half to catapult the Wolves to a comfortable 86-66 win.
 
Smith recorded a game-high 23 points on 8-15 shooting and 5-9 from three while Releford recorded his first double-double in a UWG uniform with 13 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
 
We're excited to be 4-0," coach Moore continued. "We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish in our non-conference schedule, but now it's time for conference play. Twenty-four, grind it out, Gulf South 'deathmatches', as I call them, that will come down to the last minutes most nights. Everything that we have been working on, we just have to take them to the next level."

West Georgia will enter conference play on Saturday when they welcome Auburn Montgomery to The Coliseum for a 4:00 p.m. matchup.