VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 11 Valdosta State men's basketball team opens the highly anticipated 2018-19 home slate Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. versus Tuskegee at The Complex.  VSU is 2-0 on the year after a road win at Albany State and neutral site win over Fort Valley State last weekend.  VSU also will play Albany State at home Thursday at 7:30 p.m. continuing the five-game homestand.
 
Fans can access links to live audio/video streaming, live stats, ticket information and more on vstateblazers.com and click on the men's basketball schedule page.  Mike Chason will have the call of all home games all season long for both the Blazers and the Lady Blazers.  Home games for both the Blazers and Lady Blazers will be broadcast on 92.1 FM WDDQ.  
 
VSU was given a great fight from Albany State in the season-opener Friday as the Blazers prevailed 78-72, but did enough down the stretch to come away with the victory. The Blazers had five players in double figures in the game and graduate Beau Justice scored the go ahead basket for VSU with less than nine minutes left as the Blazers would never relinquish the lead the rest of the game.  
 
The Blazers had five players in double figures led by 13 points from junior Darrell Jones and 13 points off the bench from graduate Desmond DeRamus.  Jones went 5 of 8 from the field with three free throws and tied for the team-lead in rebounding with seven, while recording three steals to lead the team.  DeRamus was a perfect 4-4 from the field with two triples and three free throws.  On Saturday, VSU crushed Fort Valley State to the tune of 94-65 as senior Winston Morgan had a game-high 22 points, while Justice dropped 21.  Morgan was 7 of 12 from the field and 6 of 10 from beyond the arc.  Justice was 8 of 16 from the field and buried three triples. VSU held FVSU to just 37.3 percent shooting on 22 of 59, while forcing 20 turnovers for a 21-9 lead in points off miscues.  
 
For the season, VSU is shooting .452 from the field on 61 of 135, while going 18 of 49 from beyond the arc (.347) and 32 of 43 from the line (.744).  The Blazers are averaging 38 rebounds per game and 86 points per game. Conversely, the opposition is shooting .441 on 49 of 111, while going just 8 of 31 from beyond the arc (.258) and 31 of 40 from the line (.775).  Teams are averaging 34.5 rebounds against the Blazers and scoring 68.5 points per game. 
 
Justice leads the way averaging 16.5 points per game on 13 of 34 from the floor (.382), but has struggled from beyond the arc, making just three of his first 11 (.273).  Justice is 4-4 from the line and has three assists and two steals.  Jones is second in scoring at 15.5 points per game as he leads the team in shooting on 11 of 17 from the field (.647) and is 9 of 14 from the line (.643).  Jones and senior Greg Zuppas lead the team in rebounding at 6.5 rebounds per game, while Jones has five assists for third on the team and three steals to lead the team.  Morgan is averaging 14.5 points per game and DeRamus is averaging ten points per game for five Blazers in double-figure scoring.  
 
Following the two games this week, the Blazers return to action Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in The Complex against Brewton-Parker.  VSU then will open Gulf South Conference play Thursday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. versus Union and Saturday, Dec. 1 against Christian Brothers at 4 p.m., to round out the homestand. 
 
Tuskegee will be playing its first game of the season at VSU on Tuesday as the Golden Tigers finished 7-22 last season with a 5-14 mark in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  Tuskegee played two Division I schools in exhibition games this season, falling 63-40 to South Alabama and losing 62-55 to Florida A&M.  
 
The Golden Tigers are under the direction of fifth year head coach Jerry Dunn, who has more than 30 years of experience as he was the head coach at Penn State from 1996-2003 and 20 years with the Nittany Lions. He also was an assistant coach for John Beilein at West Virginia (2004-07) and also has worked in the NBA.  He is 43-67 at Tuskegee.
 
Tuskegee returns its third-leading scorer from a year ago in Myles Thomas who played in 29 games with 28 starts last season.  Thomas went 96 of 262 from the field (.366) with 47 triples for second on the team (.285) was 40 of 57 from the line (.702).  He averaged 3.8 rebounds, while recording 33 assists, 12 blocks and six steals. He averaged 9.6 points per game. Also returning is Gregg Boyd, who only played in 13 games last season and averaged 10.9 points per game for third on the team.  
 
In the two exhibition games against South Alabama and Florida A&M, Thomas and Joshua Culver each had a team-high nine points against the Jaguars as the team shot just 30 percent from the field and 52 percent from the line.  No Golden Tiger was in double figures in the game. Against FAMU, Daniel Roach had 18 points and a team-high six rebounds, while Cam Grepke scored 11 points. Tuskegee shot much better against the Rattlers at 44.2 percent, while going 12 of 18 from the line.
 
VSU swept the season series last year as the teams did a home-and-home.  VSU won at Tuskegee 75-61 on Nov. 18 and posted a 107-81 win on Dec. 5 at The Complex.  The Blazers will travel to Tuskegee for a Dec. 1 date with the Golden Tigers this year, to conclude the season series.
 
Albany State enters at 0-2 after home losses to VSU and West Florida.  Despite the 0-2 start, the Golden Rams have played very well as they lost 78-72 to the Blazers and followed with a 63-59 setback to UWF. Against UWF, the Golden Rams had 14 turnovers, which proved costly as UWF held a 10-6 lead in points off turnovers. The Argos had just six miscues in the game.
 
For the season, the Golden Rams are led by Jared Harrington who averages 20 points per game as he is 15 of 23 from the field (.652) with four triples and is averaging 3.5 rebounds per game.  Jonathan Henderson is averaging 15 points per game on 10 of 28 from the field with a team-high eight triples.  Napoleon Harris leads the team averaging 10.0 rebounds per game.  Tyrell Williams is third in scoring at 11.0 points per game and second in rebounding at 8.5 per contest.  Williams has a team-high eight assists and four blocks on the season.
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com for complete recaps and stats of both games this week.