VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State University men's basketball team is set to host Coastal Georgia for an early week matchup on Monday at 7:30 p.m. inside the Complex. The Blazers are coming off a 1-1 weekend in the Palm Beach Atlantic Thanksgiving Classic.

PBA Thanksgiving Classic

The Blazers suffered their second loss of the young season Friday afternoon against Lynn University. The Blazers were led by redshirt junior Cam Hamilton, who ended the afternoon with 24 points, three rebounds, and two assists. Junior Jacolbey Owens recorded 19 points along with three assists.

VSU avenged the loss on Saturday against Palm Beach Atlantic, 72-71 to finish out the weekend. Owens and Hamilton each recorded 15 points and the Blazers shot 40.7% outside the arc in the win. 

2021-2022 Home Opener

The Blazers are hosting the second home game of the year. Previously, the Blazers pulled off a 92-79 win against Clayton State on November 16. The team shot 50% from the field while Michael Cole, a transfer from Hillsborough Community College, and last week's Gulf South Conference player of the week, recorded a dominating season-high 29 points, went 13 of 17 from the field, picked up nine rebounds, two assists and one block, and went three of four in free throws. Jacolbey Owens went six of ten from the field and sunk one three-pointer in two attempts. He picked up a season-high 14 points and had two assists and three steals.  

vs. Coastal Georgia

VSU will face off against the Mariners for the fifth time since 2012. The Blazers are 4-0 against Coastal Georgia and most recently, VSU defeated the Mariners 121-82 in the 2017-2018 season at home. 

The Mariners are coming off a 83-54 exhibition match against Jacksonville University on Saturday. The team averages 68.8 points per game and Jordan Parks leads the team averaging 13.8 points per game. 

From head coach Mike Helfer

"We continue to learn and grow, and have a lot of takeaways from this past weekend," Helfer said about this past weekend.  "Those were two very tough teams and we battled for two days.  I was proud of my guys and how hard we played in a tough environment".

"Coastal Georgia is always well coached and will be a test for us on Monday night," Helfer said looking at Coastal Georgia. "I am hoping we can get a good crowd since this is only our second home game of the season.  We are focused on getting better every day and will always take games one step at a time. We know the GSC is in front of us, but we have to continue to focus on the basics and getting better every single day."