CLEVELAND, Miss. – Valdosta State tallied 16 steals on 22 Delta State turnovers as the Blazers defeated the Statesmen 74-71 in Gulf South Conference men's basketball action Thursday evening.
 
Valdosta State (7-4, 2-3) opened the game on a 7-0 run as Blake Justice and Josh Lemons hit lay-ups before Jeremiah Hill made a three-pointer. However, Delta State (6-5, 3-2) fought back with nine of the game's next 11 points for the first of five ties in the first 20 minutes of play.
 
The Blazers continued to control the first half of play as they built an 18-13 lead on a Lemons three-pointer with 11:05 to play in the half, but DSU refused to go away as it scored the game's next seven points to take the lead for the first time in the contest when Jack Madgen connected on a three-pointer two minutes later.
 
The two teams traded the lead seven times the remainder of the half, with the Statesmen eventually claiming their largest lead of the frame at 34-29 with just under three minutes to go in the frame, before the Blazers closed the frame as they opened it, with a 7-0 run. Jeff Nibo fueled the spurt as he hit two free throws to open it and, after Hill added a three-pointer, scored on a lay-up to give Valdosta State a 36-34 halftime lead.
 
Defense and offensive rebounding were the keys to the first half VSU lead as the Blazers forced Delta State into 10 first half turnovers, which led to eight Blazer steals, and tallied a 6-1 advantage in offensive rebounds. Valdosta State held a 10-7 advantage in points off turnover in the half while holding a 7-2 advantage in second chance points. The effort helped off-set a strong shooting performance by the Statesmen, who made 56.5 percent (13-of-23) of their shots in the half while Valdosta State made 13-of-32 to shoot 40.6 percent.
 
The opening five minutes of the second half featured three ties and two lead changes before Valdosta State used a 12-0 run to grab its largest lead of the game at 50-42 with 13:25 to play in the game. Hill led the charge as he opened the run with a jumper and, after a basket by Lemons and two free throws from Nibo, made back-to-back three-pointers.
 
Delta State fought back as it scored the game's next six points and got within two points on three more occasions over the next seven minutes, but saw its turnover count continue to grow as the Statesmen committed nine more miscues, six of which came on VSU steals, in the first 12 minutes of the half.
 
The Blazers built their advantage back to eight points with 3:33 to go in the game, but scored just eight more points the remainder of the game, six of which came on free throws from Justice in the final 11 seconds.
 
Justice scored a game-high 24 points while Hill, who made four three-pointers, finished with 19. Nibo and James Spencer were also in double figures with 10 each. The Blazers made 25-of-56 field goal attempts to shoot 44.6 percent in the game and were 17-of-21 from the free throw line, behind an eight-of-eight performance by Justice.
 
Delta State shot 58.1 percent from the floor, but due to the turnovers, attempted 13 fewer field goal attempts than the Blazers. Four Statesmen players scored in double figures, led by Devin Schmidt with 18. DSU owned a 29-24 advantage in rebounding.
 
Valdosta State closes out its 2014 schedule Saturday when it travels to Clinton, Miss. to face Mississippi College in GSC action at 5:00 p.m.