FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Third times the charm for the UWG men's basketball team as the Wolves advance to the South Region Semifinals after a 74-61 win over the Lee Flames on Saturday night.

For the fourth consecutive game, West Georgia (21-9, 17-7 GSC) held their opponent to under 70 points as UWG held Lee (20-8, 18-6 GSC) to 61 points and forced the Flames to shoot 39.7% from the field and 34.5% from three, propelling the Wolves to their second South Region Semifinals appearance in the last three years.

"I thought that we executed the defensive game plan really well," said head coach Dave Moore. "These guys are hard to guard and they have been hard to guard for us especially in the second halves of the first two games. We tweaked our defense and tweaked our entire game plan a little bit in order to keep their really good guards in Smith and Hendricks in front. The defense was the story for us and I'm proud of the guys for how they executed."

Jalen Sasser and Camron Donatlan came out firing for the Wolves as the duo scored West Georgia's first 13 points, giving UWG a 13-5 lead, six minutes into the game. Moments later, Zawdie Jackson got on the board which was followed by a J.J. Barnes three that gave the Wolves' their largest lead of the game at 18-5 with 12:09 left in the half. About 10 minutes into the half, Lee got their offense going as their stars PJay Smith and Jayce Willingham knocked down three three-pointers in the next three minutes to cut West Georgia's lead to five. When it looked as though the Flames had all of the momentum, Sasser halted it all by scoring back-to-back baskets to put the Wolves back up by nine. Throughout the remainder of the half, both teams traded buckets as the Wolves took a 33-27 lead into halftime.

West Georgia shot 45% from the field, 36% from three, and won the turnover battle by four in the first half.

Lee blitzed UWG out of the break as the Flames quickly cut West Georgia's lead down to four, four minutes into the second half. With Lee getting within five points for the first time since the 17:12 mark of the first half, Donatlan shifted the momentum back in the favor of the Wolves as the guard went on a personal 7-2 run, putting UWG up 45-36 with 14:25 left to play. Buckets by Kolten Griffin and Barnes put West Georgia back up by double figures and that's when Jackson took the game over for the Wolves. Jackson went on to score 14 second half points as UWG cruised to a 74-61 win.

West Georgia had four players score in double figures led by Donatlan's game-high 20 points and eight rebounds. Jackson also finished with 18 points, six assists, and five rebounds while Sasser and Griffin finished with 14 and 11 points.

"The 28 defensive rebounds is the number," coach Moore continued. "Our goal coming into the game was 28-30. If you get that many defensive rebounds, you're going to get enough stops to win, usually, and that was the key for us."

UWG advances to the South Region Semifinals where they will face the number-one ranked team in the country in the Nova Southeastern Sharks on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.