CARROLLTON, Ga. - The University of West Georgia Men's Basketball secured their fourth straight win on Wednesday after an 86-65 victory over the Delta State Statesmen.

UWG (13-2, 9-2 GSC) put together another defensive masterclass as the Wolves held Delta State (8-6, 6-5 GSC) to 28.9% shooting and 23.3% from three.

"Delta State is a hard prep and an even harder prep on one day," said head coach Dave Moore. "Delta State likes to switch everything on the defensive end, they like to press on every made field goal and foul shot, so it's a different type of game. I thought we were feeling our way through the game in the first half and then in the second we were able to break pressure and get the ball up the floor and attack them off the dribble and that's really what we wanted to do instead of playing against their set defense where they switch everything."

West Georgia scored on two of their first three possessions before their offense went cold as the Wolves missed seven of their next nine shots, leading to a 16-9 Delta State lead. A layup from Camron Donatlan got the UWG offense going as it sparked a 10-6 run for the Wolves to cut their deficit down to one. The Statesmen got their lead back up to six before a bucket from Michael Griffin sparked an 8-0 West Georgia run, giving UWG their first lead since the 18:02 mark of the period. The two teams then traded baskets for the remainder of the half, leading to a 34-33 lead for Delta State at the break.

West Georgia shot 46.4% from the field in the half but didn't make any threes, while Delta State shot 34.3% from the floor and made four threes.

After going scoreless in the first half, UWG's Cole Fisher buried two threes in the first three minutes that put the Wolves ahead 43-38. The Statesmen stayed within single digits before Marlon Smith caught fire. A jumper and two layups from the junior put the Wolves up 12 with 11:16 left to play before Delta State got UWG's lead down to six after a quick 6-0 run. Two more threes from Smith and a layup from Zawdie Jackson quickly ended the Statesmen's run and put the Wolves right back up by 12. Delta State once more cut West Georgia's lead back down to six until the Wolves went on a 20-5 run to close the game.

Smith finished with 23 points and eight rebounds on 8-12 shooting and 3-4 from three, while Jackson recorded 21 points and six assists.

"We're hopefully understanding now what our formula is," coach Moore continued. "When we defend and rebound we are really hard to deal with."

West Georgia will be back in action on Saturday at 5:00 PM for a matchup against Mississippi College.