Carrollton, Ga. – The Valdosta State Blazers gave the West Georgia Wolves a scare on Saturday evening, but the Wolves used a strong shooting effort to edge out the Blazers and claim a 93-86 win at The Coliseum in Carrollton, Ga.

Valdosta State fell behind in the early minutes after UWG scored the first five points of the contest, but climbed right back into the game with two quick buckets by Colin Cook and Josh Lemons.

West Georgia denied the Blazers an opportunity to take the lead after burying three straight field goals that gave the Wolves an 11-4 advantage at the 13:38 mark in the first half.
The Blazers hung close, and cut the deficit to 17-14 after a three pointer by Lemons, but the Wolves continued to pour on offensively and used a 16-of-36, 44.4 percent shooting effort in the first half to open up a 43-32 lead.

UWG sophomore Deonta Stocks, the leading scorer in the GSC with an average of 21.3 points per game, came out firing in the contest and helped fuel the Wolves attack with 11 of his 20 points coming in the first half alone.

In the second half, the Blazers trailed 49-38 with 17:25 on the clock before Head Coach Mike Helfer's team put together a 9-3 run to close the gap to only three points.

West Georgia held on to their lead and even spread it to as many as nine points with just over four minutes to go in regulation, but a resilient Blazer squad cut the deficit to three again after a long three from the top of the key by Lemons with 1:33 left in regulation. That was as close as Valdosta State would come, however, as the Wolves held off the Blazers for the ramainder of the second period to secure the narrow win.

The Blazers shot an impressive 42.9 percent from the field, but West Georgia's sizzling 46.2 percent performance from the field and a 43.8 shooting display from long range proved to be a bit too much for the red and black.

Colin Cook secured his second double-double of the season after scoring 22 points and pulling down 12 rebounds, while Blake Justice returned to form with a total of 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and a 3-of-4 effort from three point range.

Lemons added 11 points on offense for the Blazers, while James Spencer posted 19 points on six buckets in 13 attempts and a 7-of-8 shooting effort from the free throw line.

With the loss, the Blazers fell to 7-8 overall, 2-7 in GSC play. Meanwhile, the Wolves improved to 10-3 overall and 5-3 against league opponents.
Valdosta State continues the conference road trip on Monday night at 8:30 EST against the Tigers of West Alabama in Livingston, Ala..