BeauJustice_LS_UWG
92
West Georgia WES 8-10, 3-8 GSC
114
Winner Valdosta State VSU 17-2, 9-1 GSC
West Georgia WES
8-10, 3-8 GSC
92
Final
114
Valdosta State VSU
17-2, 9-1 GSC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
West Georgia WES 35 57 92
Valdosta State VSU 51 63 114

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Justice Posts Second Straight Career Night; Blazers Defeat UWG, 114-92

VALDOSTA, Ga. - For the second time in three days, Beau Justice topped a career high point total to fuel the Valdosta State men's basketball team in a 114-92 Gulf South Conference victory over the West Georgia Wolves on Sunday afternoon at The Complex in Valdosta, Ga.

After scoring what was at the time a career high on Friday night against Auburn Montgomery, Justice didn't settle and proceeded to rack up a whopping 40 points against one of VSU's biggest rivals on Sunday. Justice literally could not miss throughout the majority of the contest. In fact, the Peebles, Ohio native was a perfect 9-of-9 from the three point line before he finally missed from long distance with 6:49 left in the game.

"Today was one of those days as a coach where you just sit back and watch instead of coach," said Head Coach Mike Helfer after the win. "Beau was making some difficult shots out there. West Georgia did a great job covering him and didn't give him many open looks, but Beau is a worker. He works everyday at shooting and ball-handling, among other things, and I like seeing kids that work hard be rewarded with great games like this."

Justice finished the night 10-of-11 from beyond the arc and added five more buckets all total for a 15-of-19 performance from the field. The effort capped off a week in which the junior averaged 29.3 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game. Since the Blazers squared off against Union on Monday, Justice has connected on 18-of-31 three pointers for 58.1 percent. On top of that, he has turned the ball over just twice.

"It's hard to describe how you're feeling on a day like today when everything just keeps going in," said Justice when asked about how he felt throughout the contest. "A few games here lately, I've had some good looks that have been in and out. I felt confident that eventually I was going to have a day when I wouldn't miss those, and my teammates did a great job of getting the ball to me while I was hot."

The Blazers opened up the scoring during the first minute with a layup from Clay Guillozet, before the Wolves returned fire with a layup by Marquill Smith, who entered the contest ranked second in the GSC with an average of 21.6 points per game. Guillozet struck again one minute later, however, with another bucket, and Valdosta State never looked back. In fact, the Blazers took complete control of the game during the first ten minutes after a three ball by Winston Morgan gave VSU a double-digit,  lead at the 11:19 mark. The Blazers would never allow the Wolves to pull the deficit back to within single digits on the scoreboard.

As a team, the Blazers shot 41-of-62 from the field for an eye-popping 62.1 shooting percentage. Furthermore, VSU shot 20-of-39 from long distance. With 226 three pointers on the year, Valdosta State is rapidly closing in on the window of top ten three point shooting teams on the NCAA Division II leaderboard.

Other contributors for the Blazers included KJ James, who scored 20 and ripped down 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year and his fourth in the last five games. Additionally, Morgan added 17, while Guillozet and Jimmy Kodet picked up 15 and 11, respectively.

With the win, the Blazers improved to 17-2 on the year and 9-1 against GSC opponents. With the help of a West Florida loss to Auburn-Montgomery on Sunday, VSU now stands alone at the top of the league standings. Valdosta State is now a perfect 10-0 at The Complex this season and have won 10 consecutive games, all against league opponents. In addition, the Blazers have now won 20 straight home games, a number which matches the previous record of 20 set in 2008-2010.

West Georgia, meanwhile, fell to 8-10 overall and dropped to 3-8 in conference play. Smith finished with 22.

Valdosta State will be back at it on Thursday, in another GSC showdown on the road against the Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville. Tip time is slated for 8:30 p.m., with full coverage available on the web at www.vstateblazers.com.
 
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