VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State hit a school record 21 three-pointers as the Blazers defeated West Florida 114-95 in Gulf South Conference men's basketball action Saturday evening at The Complex.
 
Nine different Valdosta State players made a three-pointer in the game, led by Blake Justice, who hit six. Nils Dejworek and Lester Moore added three each while Jeremiah Hill, Colin Cook and Jacob Obande added two apiece.
 
Valdosta State (10-18, 5-17) turned in its best shooting half of the year in the first half while sprinting out to a 57-42 halftime lead. The Blazers 23 of their 41 first half field goals to shoot 56.1 percent from the field in the frame. Nearly half of VSU's makes in the half came from beyond the three-point line as the Blazers made 10 of their 20 trifectas. Valdosta State also pushed the pace in the half as it scored 14 fast break points.
 
The first five minutes of the game were close, although the Blazers led throughout. Leading 11-10 five minutes into the frame, VSU put together a 7-0 run to open the game up some. Moore opened the run with a three-pointer before Justice and James Spencer added fast break lay-ins to put Valdosta State in front 18-10 with 14:37 to play.
 
West Florida (7-21, 3-19) fought back to close to within three points two minutes later, only to have Valdosta State respond with a 20-7 run to push its lead into double digits for good. VSU made four three-pointers during the run, including one by Josh Lemons with 7:30 to play that put the Blazers in front 38-22.
 
The Blazer lead grew to as much as 47-28 two and a half minutes later before the Argonauts used a later run to close to within 12 points. However, Moore closed the half with another three-pointer to put VSU up 15 at the intermission.
 
The Valdosta State barrage from outside continued in the early minutes of the second half as the Blazers made four more in the first six minutes of the frame, including one Cook, the first of his career. The hot shooting helped VSU push its advantage to 24 points, at 71-47 with 16:10 to go.
 
UWF fought back to get within 13 points, but Valdosta State's torrid shooting continued as the Blazers quickly reclaimed a 20-point advantage and topped the 100-point mark on Cook's second trifecta of the game with 6:27 remaining.
 
Justice led Valdosta State with 23 points while Cook added 21 and a team-high six rebounds. The Blazers shot 51.2 percent from the floor as they made 43-of-84 attempts, and dished out 23 assists while turning the ball over just 10 times. VSU also had 12 steals on 21 West Florida turnovers.
 
Lendward Griffin had 25 points and 13 rebounds to lead UWF while Deangelo Legrier added 19 points and 12 rebounds. The Argonauts out-rebounded VSU by a count of 52-32 and made 10 three-pointers while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor in the contest.