CARROLLTON, Ga. – West Georgia men's basketball earned its first ASUN home win in The Coliseum, defeating the University of North Florida 92-72 this Saturday. 

A balanced UWG offensive attack, led by Kolten Griffin's career-high 24 points, propelled West Georgia (4-17, 2-6 ASUN) to the victory over UNF (10-11, 3-5 ASUN). This even scoring distribution, combined with the Wolves shooting 22-25 (88%) from the line while preventing the Ospreys from getting hot from distance, proved to be too much for the visitors from Florida.

For the second time this season, Kolten Griffin led the way for the Wolves with 24 points, shooting a superb 64 percent from the field and 60 percent from long range. Shelton Williams-Dryden trailed slightly behind with 17 points, followed by Kyric Davis with 16, Rickey Ballard with 13 and both Malcolm Noel and Tamaury Releford with ten each. Davis has now scored in double figures in four consecutive games, while Williams-Dryden and Releford have achieved this feat in the last two.

Jasai Miles led the charge for UNF with 18 points hitting, 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from distance. Following Miles, Nates Lliteras and Jaylen Smith each posted 13 points.

As a team, UWG shot 54 percent from the field and 35 percent from three. UNF finished shooting 43 percent from field goal range and just 29 from three.

When talking about the individual performances following the game, coach Moore stated, "I couldn't be more proud of the group. Specifically, I couldn't be more proud of Kolten Griffin. He is a fifth year senior, he is a guy that's been here for three years and he has helped us win a whole lot of games. He has been waiting for this type of game for a long time. He has had some struggles shooting, so it was great to see him get loose and hit a couple of threes. 24 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals, that's a big time performance. And that's exactly what we needed. And to have five more guys follow along and get double figures is how you win by 20 against a good team."

In regards to how coach Moore viewed the Wolves play, he said,"North Florida is one of the highest scoring teams in the league, so we knew we needed to score some points to win. We knew that we were going to have to hit some shots. We did a great job in the first half guarding them beyond the three-point line. That's what we needed to do, that was a huge piece of the game plan. They got loose in the second half and hit seven big ones, but that's what they do. They were going to continue to hit those shots, but we responded by shooting 57 percent from the field and 14-of-15 from the free throw line in the second. That's how you don't let a good team back in the game. That's how you close games at home."

UWG jumped out to a 7-0 lead to open the home conference contest, exploiting UNF's ice-cold 0-5 start from the field.

West Georgia continued its first half dominance with the pack attacking at all angles. At the nine minute mark, UWG held a 25-13 advantage with Rickey Ballard and Tamaury Releford leading with six points each. 

Going into the break, UWG held a commanding 43-27 lead. Tamaury Releford posted a team-high ten points, followed by Kolten Griffin and Kyric Davis both with eight. As a team, the Wolves shot 51 percent from the field and 38 percent from three. UNF struggled in the first, hitting 33 percent from the field and just 17 percent from distance.

Despite going 3-18 from three in the first half, UNF continued to shoot from distance with the hope they would find their stroke.

Even with the visitors starting the second period hitting 50 percent from distance early, UWG responded in kind, knocking down its shots from beyond the arc to extend its lead to 61-42 with under 12 remaining. 

While UNF fought back to cut the Wolves lead to 71-61 at the nine-minute mark, West Georgia blew the doors off of the game by going on a four-minute 20-10 scoring run to give UWG a 20-point advantage with under five to go.

This electric offensive surge had the West Georgia faithful who were in attendance on their feet and cheering as it started to become clear that the Wolves would be taking its first ASUN home win and second conference victory today.

As mentioned, UWG was led by Kolten Griffin with a career-high 24 points, whereas UNF was led by Jasai Miles with 18 points. 

UWG finished the day outscoring the Ospreys in the paint 46-20 and 18-9 in fast break points.

Coach Moore wrapped up the post-game interview by saying, "This win means everything. It earns us some respect in the league. They just beat a good Queens team on the road. North Florida is a really good team. To get a win against these guys is a huge step forward for the program. Hopefully, we can have more nights like this in The Coliseum. Hopefully, the students will continue to support us. We need our community to support us. Big time Division I basketball is here in Carrollton. We are going to continue to get better game after game and year after year, and we need their support. We need people coming out and supporting us. We can't be successful without their help."

The Wolves take a short break before hitting the road to face off against the University of Central Arkansas next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.