VALDOSTA, Ga. – Shorter made five of its eight shots in overtime to defeat Valdosta State 98-94 in Gulf South Conference men's basketball action at The Complex Monday night.
 
The two teams traded buckets in the early minutes of the extra period before Joseph Bobbitt put Shorter (7-3, 2-2) in front for good with a bucket and a free throw. After Josh Lemons connected on one-of-two free throws for Valdosta State (6-4, 1-3), Jordan Jacks scored on a lay-up to push the SU lead to four points with 45 seconds remaining, only to have Lemons score a bucket for VSU. However, following a timeout, Trevor McDade broke into the open on the inbounds play for a dunk and VSU got no closer than two points, on a Shaun Jones put-back bucket with 16 seconds to go.
 
Shorter used a torrid first half of shooting to grab an early lead. The Hawks made 18 of their 33 field goal attempts in the half to shoot 54.5 percent from the floor in the frame. Jordan Jacks did much of the damage as he made six of his eight shots in the half for 13 points while Dedric Ware dished out five assists in the frame.
 
Colin Cook paced the Blazers in the early going as he was fouled on the first possession of the game and made two free throws before hitting baskets on each of the next two trips down the floor. However, SU trailed just 6-5 after the early flurry from Cook and proceeded to score the next eight points of the game, behind four from Jacks, to grab a 13-6 advantage just over five minutes into the contest.
 
Valdosta State fought back to close to within four points five minutes later, but Shorter proceeded to make eight of its next 13 attempts. Travis Jones gave the Hawks their largest lead of the half as he scored on a fast break lay-up and converted the free throw after being fouled to put SU in front 44-31 with 3:20 to go in the half.
 
Jay Watkins spurred a VSU run over the remainder of the half as he scored five of the game's next seven points while Blake Justice hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to pull VSU to within 49-41 at the intermission.
 
Shorter raced out to a 61-46 lead five minutes into the second half before Valdosta State came storming back. The Blazers scored the next 20 points of the game as it held SU without a point for more than six minutes. Five different VSU players scored during the run, which ended with Valdosta State holding a 65-61 lead with 9:35 remaining in the contest.
 
The Blazer lead grew to as much as 74-65 over the next three minutes of play before Shorter fought back to eventually claim an 80-78 lead with 2:23 to go. Valdosta State hit eight free throws in the 64 seconds of regulation, including two by Lemons with eight seconds to go that evened the score at 85-85.
 
Cook led six Blazers in double digit scoring as he finished with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Spencer added 15 points and Hill 13 while Lemons and Jacob Obande had 11 each. Blake Justice finished with 10 as Valdosta State made 33-of-73 shots in the game to shoot 45.2 percent from the floor.
 
Jacks scored 22 points to lead all scorers and also finished with 13 rebounds. McDade added 19 points and Chris Daniels 14 while Travis Jones tallied 11. The Hawks made 35 of their 68 field goal attempts to shoot 51.5 percent from the floor in the game and also dished out 19 assists.
 
Valdosta State returns to action Thursday, December 18 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.