COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – After falling behind early in the first half, the UWG men's basketball nearly came all the way back against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, but in the end, West Georgia fell 76-73 on the road in game three of the season.
West Georgia (0-3) struggled out of the gate, shooting just 36.4 percent from the field in the opening half, before outscoring Tennessee Tech (2-1) by 12 points in the final 20 minutes of the Tuesday night contest.
"I thought we scrapped. You know we were down 21 with three and a half to go and we cut it to 15 at half, and I felt like we were heading in the right direction," said head coach
Dave Moore. "And we scrapped in the second half and made some things happen. We shot the ball better and made some buckets. They were hard to guard and keep in front and they were really clicking offensively in the first half. That was the real difference in the first half, their shot-making."
The second half surge was fueled by the trio of
Kyric Davis,
Kolten Griffin, and
Shelton Williams-Dryden who combined for 35 of the Wolves 43 points in the second half. Dryden-Williams was the Wolves' leading scorer when all was said and done, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double in a UWG uniform.
"Those guys showed what they can do and what they're capable of," said Moore, "We got them making shots in the second half, and we were rebounding the ball. That's the reason we were in the game was the ability to rebound. We still have to be more efficient, but the rebounding kept us in it, but at the end of the day the turnovers were the story."
West Georgia had a 13-rebound advantage on the glass, pulling down 43 boards to 30 from Tech while the Wolves grabbed 17 offensive rebounds in the loss. The Wolves turned the ball over 16 times including 10 in the second half.
In the opening minutes, it was back-and-forth until the Golden Eagles used a 13-0 run to stretch the lead to 22-7. Tennessee Tech, who would complete the half shooting 56 percent from the half, led by as much as 21 in the half.
Out of the final media timeout of the half, UWG would finish the half on a 10-3 run to cut the deficit to 15 at the break.
The Wolves went to work in the second half, cutting the deficit to single-digits again at the 16:10 mark of the period after a steal and a score by
Kyric Davis. Still, the Golden Eagles bounced right back, extending the lead back to 17 just under four minutes later.
At the 10-minute mark, both offenses went cold, as neither team scored until Williams-Dryden hit a jumper with 5:06 remaining. Davis would hit a contested layup with 4:44 remaining that cut the deficit to six at 67-61 and the teams would trade baskets until
Demetrus Johnson II buried a late three to account for the final, three-point margin.
"We battled and clawed and got back in it, we just turned the ball over too much in the last three minutes," Moore said of the second half, "Six point game with three and a half to go, and it's winning time, and we just turned it over too much."
Along with the big night from Williams-Dryden, who was 8-of-12 from the field, Davis scored a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds while Griffin finished with 17. Johnson posted a career-high six assists for the Wolves.
West Georgia is back on the road on Friday, heading south to take on the South Florida Bulls in Tampa.
"We're just trying to get better," Moore added. "We're going to go down to South Florida, it'll be beautiful down there, and we'll get to play an American Conference Opponent in a nice place. They'll be good, well-coached and play hard."
Tip-off on Friday is set for 7 p.m.
"It'll be another big-time challenge for us, but you know we're just trying to get better," Moore concluded. "We want to be a team that in January and February can really compete in the ASUN, and that's a process with all these new guys, we've got to learn how to win together. I'm pleased with how we fought in the second half tonight and if we can put two halves together like that, we'll be in any game."
