by Matt Cooke
The West Georgia men's basketball team secured a host spot on Super Tuesday on Saturday, February 21 at The Complex in Valdosta, taking down the Valdosta State Blazers by a narrow 85-83 margin in Gulf South Conference basketball action. The Wolves will play at home on Tuesday, March 3, with the opponent yet to be determined.
The Wolves have now won two straight on the road, taking down West Florida on Thursday and the Blazers on Saturday, and with the win coupled with a loss from Union at Alabama Huntsville, West Georgia can now finish no worse than fourth in the conference. UWG remains one game ahead of Shorter and one behind West Alabama and UAH, two teams currently tied for first place in the GSC. West Georgia could finish as high as second in the GSC or as low as fourth, depending on what happens Thursday, February 26 in the season finale.
It's never easy in The Complex, but with Valdosta State out of the postseason before Saturday's game, the Blazers came into the night looking to knock West Georgia from their No. 3 ranking in the NCAA South Region. But the Wolves came out firing on all cylinders offensively, outscoring the Blazers by a 24-14 mark over the first eight minutes of the game. Zach Taulien hit a three-pointer at the 12:09 mark to give West Georgia the 10-point advantage, the biggest for either team in the first half.
But over the final 12 minutes of the period, the Blazers would return the favor, heating up in front of their home crowd and outscoring the Wolves 34-19 heading into the half. Taylor Cochran and Emory Bernard helped late, as Cochran hit a three-pointer and Bernard chipped in a dunk in the final minute that cut the VSU advantage to three at the break. Prior to that, Valdosta State led 46-38 and looked to be heading into the locker room with a comfortable edge.
The first 10 minutes of the second half saw the two teams trading buckets back-and-forth, with neither team gaining a foothold on a substantial lead. The final lead change happened at the 10:57 mark, when Deontre Brown scored on a layup to put UWG up 65-64. Over the final 10 minutes of the game, West Georgia would outscore VSU 20-19, with the final basket coming on a three-pointer at the buzzer by VSU to make the final margin two points.
Three UWG players, led by Deonta Stocks with 25, scored in double-figures on the night. Brown chipped in 20 for his third-straight double-figure scoring game and second 20-point game in the last three. Taulien was the final double-figure scorer in the contest, knocking down 4-of-6 from three-point range to add 14 to the tally. It was the second time this season that Taulien had at least four three-pointers in a game for UWG.
Deonta Stocks now has 1,027 points in his career and needs 27 to move into 9th place all-time at UWG, ahead of Daron Richardson. Stocks moved past Richardson's 1980 single-season performance on Saturday as well as Foots Walker in 1973 and Michael Ford in 2006, moving into 14th place in the best single-season scoring in school history. Stocks now has 573 points this season, needing just 27 to become the 11th player in school history with 600 points in a season.
The Wolves conclude the regular season Thursday, February 26, taking on the West Alabama Tigers in a game that will determine final seedings for Super Tuesday, as both teams are in line to host.
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