VALDOSTA, Ga. - Another sharp shooting effort by the Valdosta State men's basketball team led to a 121-82 rout of the Coastal Georgia Mariners in Tuesday night's home opener in Valdosta, Ga.
Labrian Shiflet came off the bench for 30 of the Blazers' 51 bench points, which helped fuel VSU to the convincing non-conference win. Shiflet shot 10-of-12 from the field and connected on 5-of-7 from the three point line to highlight a 51.3 percent (7-of-17) long range shooting performance from Head Coach
Mike Helfer's squad. Furthermore, the Blazers buried 42-of-79 from the field for 53.2 percent.
"One of the great things about this team, is that we have so many guys that can make threes," said Helfer after the team's fourth consecutive win. "It's hard for teams to defend, because you never know who's going to get it going on any given night. Tonight, Labrian had it going,
Winston Morgan hit a bunch of threes, and
Beau Justice hit a bunch of threes, and even though
Jimmy Kodet wasn't on target tonight, he can really shoot it great too. This is going to be a team effort all year, and we just have to keep the mindset of team over individual, like we did tonight."
Four additional players reached double figures on offense, including Morgan with 21, Justice with 19,
Tyrone Sam with 15, and
KJ James with 11. James also pulled down eight rebounds, falling just short of a double-double.
The Blazers' defensive effort complemented the performance, as the team racked up 12 steals while forcing 16 Mariner turnovers and adding six blocked shots.
With the win, Valdosta State improved to 4-0 on the year, while the Mariners fell to 5-4.
Valdosta State, who entered the national rankings earlier on Tuesday as the No. 20 ranked team on the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) NCASA Division II poll, will aim to carry their streak into more home games this weekend. The Blazers will host the VSU Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday and Sunday, with their first game taking place on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. against Fayetteville State. Sunday's contest against Webber International will also tip at 4:00 p.m. against Webber International. Both games will be broadcast on Talk 92.1 in Valdosta and on the web. Links to the broadcast can be found right here at www.vstateblazers.com.
