VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State's long range shooting woes continued on Thursday night, and Shorter's Phil Taylor posted 38 points en route to a 105-97 victory for the Hawks over the Blazer men's basketball team on Thursday night at The Complex in Valdosta, Ga.

In terms of scoring, the performance represented Taylor's best of the season in Gulf South Conference play. The only game in which the Brooklyn, N.Y. native scored more points was on November 24^th in a non-conference matchup, when he racked up 46 against North Georgia. Taylor finished the night 11-of-26 from the field for 68.8 percent with two threes and a perfect 14-of-14 effort from the stripe.

The contest remained tight throughout the first half with ten ties and six lead changes, but the Blazers took a two point edge to the locker room, thanks to two close range buckets by Jacob Obande and Blake Justice within the final 1:15 of the opening period.

The second half belonged to the Hawks, however, as Shorter attacked the basket and managed to draw a slew of fouls, which led to 35 free throw attempts in the second half alone. The Hawks racked up 43 free throw chances on the night and connected on 34 of those attempts to finish with a 79.1 percentage from the charity stripe.
Although the Blazers led for a majority of the second half, SU used their opportunities, including a pair of free throws from Taylor at the 8:43 mark, to overtake VSU 79-78 and acquire a lead that would hold throughout the remainder of the contest.

Three players scored 20 or more points for the Hawks, as Chris Daniels and Amonte Potter joined Taylor with 26 and 20 points, respectively. In addition, Daniels was able to claim a double-double after pulling down 11 boards. The only other points in the game for Shorter came from Alijah Bennett, who added seven.

For the Blazers, Justice led the way on offense with 20 points and pulled to within six points of the 1000 career point milestone, a feat he'll hope to accomplish at home on Saturday. Meanwhile, Chris Longoria added 18, and Justin Simon chipped in with 14. Longoria's nine rebounds left him just shy of a double-double.

Valdosta State returns to action on Saturday for the Pink Out game, where Lady Blazer basketball will host a day full of events and activities in hopes of raising awareness about the devastation of breast cancer. In addition, two VSU students in attendance on Saturday will win $1000 dollars courtesy of the Georgia Lottery. Tip time for the women is slated for 2:00 p.m., with the men to follow at 4:00 p.m.