ATLANTA, Ga. - The Valdosta State Men's Basketball team gave Eckerd everything they could handle on Saturday night in Atlanta, Ga., but the Blazers' bid for an NCAA South Regional upset over No. 4 ranked Eckerd came up short in an 86-81 loss.

Valdosta State fell behind early in the game after Eckerd scored eight unanswered points in the first minute of the contest. The Blazers didn't fold, however, and answered with a 7-2 run to pull back to within the next two minutes.

The Blazers hung around throughout the entire contest and never allowed Eckerd to lead by more than 11. Late in the game, Valdosta State even used an 18-7 run in the closing minutes of the contest to tie it up at 81-81 with 1:42 to play after a Jimmy Kodet dunk.

In the end, however, Eckerd managed to outlast VSU to improve to 25-6 overall. The Blazers saw their season come to an end at 26-5, one half of a game better than their record last season, in which the Blazers recorded 26 wins for the first time since VSU made a run to the Elite Eight in 2009-10.

Valdosta State's seniors played big, as KJ James and Kodet led the team in scoring with 24 and 19 points, respectively. Clay Guillozet, Winston Morgan, and Beau Justice rounded out VSU's starting contingent with double digit figures in each of their respective scoring columns.

The Blazers struggled to find an answer for Drushaun McLaurn, who racked up 27 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field. In addition, both Marco Behori and Trevon Young each added 16 points, and and Behori netted a double-double with 10 rebounds.