PENSACOLA, Fla. – The former Argonaut returned to his previous home on Saturday afternoon and willed the Valdosta State Blazers to a win over the West Florida Argonauts, 84-79. Graduate student LaTrell Tate had yet another marvelous game, scoring a season-high 26 points and hauled in a career-high nine boards on a perfect 10-10 from the line as Valdosta State completed the season sweep of West Florida.
 
The Blazers led for 37:43 of the game, as they kept retaliating to any Argonaut run to win a big road game. With the win, Valdosta State improved to 10-14 overall and 7-13 in GSC play. As for West Florida, they dropped to 7-17 overall and 5-15 in GSC play.
 
VSU shot .475 from the floor compared to UWF's .417 clip on one less attempt. A total of 47 free throws were shot for the game, as Valdosta State shot 19-21 and West Florida shot 21-26.
 
Five Blazers scored double figures as LaTrell Tate led the way with 26. Senior Mike Isler showed up yet again, scoring 17 points on 7-11 from the floor and 3-4 from the charity stripe. Senior Lee Flenor was sturdy down low yet again, scoring 10 points and grabbing nine rebounds while dishing out a career-high six assists.
 
A gamble on a steal attempt led to a dunk for the Argos to open it up with a 2-0 lead. Senior Lee Flenor started the Blazers' opening possession with a fadeaway jumper "and-one" to tie things up at two a minute in. Senior Mike Isler picked up right where he left off last weekend, scoring two straight buckets inside to give Valdosta State an 8-4 lead at the 16:45 mark. Junior Caden Boser drilled a left wing three to give the Blazers a 11-6 lead heading into the first media timeout.
 
A pair of free throws out of the break from Flenor gave VSU a seven-point lead. A quick stop gave Isler a chance to get to his left hand to make it a 15-6 lead with 13:00 left in the first half. West Florida came right back, with a flurry of Argonauts offensive rebounds led to an "and one" for Sano Rutatika for West Florida to cut into the lead. A beautiful floater from junior Braxton Williams had the red and black up 17-11 heading into the under 12 timeout.
 
Boser came right out of the break and played bully ball, muscling inside to grow the lead to eight. In his first game back from injury, graduate student Sam Martin knocked home a three on the wing. The Argos came right back, as Tautvydas Kupstas splashed home a trey to make it 22-17 in favor of the Blazers. A steal from Flenor got Valdosta State in transition, as former Argo LaTrell Tate hit a pullup three in transition to balloon the lead to 10. A double team by the two smallest Blazers in Martin and Tate led to a block as Valdosta State held West Florida to .355 clip from the floor in the first half. The physicality was frustrating interim head coach Tre Mann, as he picked up his first technical of the season with 8:06 left in the half. The Blazers led the Argos 32-20 at the media timeout.
 
After a long review on a foul call, West Florida came down a knocked home a three to make it a nine-point game before Lee Flenor got one to go inside. A third straight three from the Argos had it back to eight. A missed three from Boser had UWF in transition, where they knocked home yet another three. Mike Isler left his frustrations out on the rim, slamming one home but getting called for a technical because he hung on the rim a little too long for the ref's liking. The Blazers led 36-30 with 5:19 left in half number one.
 
A pair of free throws from West Florida had it to a four-point game, until graduate student Jay Rucker flushed one home on the pass from Isler to keep the Argos at bay. Coming out of the break, LaTrell Tate was left open and knocked home a three let the fans know, as the Blazers got the lead back to nine. West Florida lived at the free throw line in the first half, going 14-16. LaTrell Tate got called for a technical after making a tough layup, as the Blazers and Argos kept going back and forth as the first half was coming to a close. Tautvydas Kupstas came off a screen and knocked home yet another triple to make it a three-point game with 24.6 left in the first half. Tate couldn't get a floater to go at the buzzer, as Valdosta State led West Florida after 20 minutes, 45-42. The 45 points that Valdosta State scored in the first half was the most the Blazers had scored in the first half since GSC play started.
 
LaTrell Tate led all scorers in the first half with 16 points on 4-8 from the floor and 6-6 from the line. Lee Flenor already had a career high in half number one, racking up a career-high five assists just halfway through the game.
 
Two free throws from West Florida opened up the second half, as Rucker came back and backed his way down on the block to get the lead back to three early in the second half. Head coach Mike Helfer made it an emphasis at the break to pound the ball inside, as junior Braxton Williams got to the stripe and knocked down both to extend the lead to five. VSU and UWF were trading baskets back and forth, as the Blazers head a 58-52 edge just four minutes into the second half.
 
Exceptional ball movement got Isler a wide-open layup on the assist from Braxton Williams on the left block. Both teams got ice cold, until LaTrell Tate continued to torch his former team, getting a three to go on the pass from Martin to make it a 65-55 lead. A West Florida layup inside got the game back to an eight-point deficit for UWF. The Blazers started to torch the Argos' zone, as beautiful ball movement led to a wide-open corner three from Braxton Williams. Braxton poked the ball loose and then got loose in transition, jamming it home with his right hand right in front of the VSU bench, as Valdosta State led 70-59 with 9:23 left in the game.
 
West Florida continued to knock down free throws, making two more out of the break. A long rebound then led to a Blazers fastbreak, where the uber-athletic Mike Isler dunked home a two-handed backscratcher to keep the West Florida faithful quiet. Valdosta State got the lead to the largest of the night at 15, before Xavier Washington got the hoop and the harm to cut it back to 12 with 7:01 left. Isler showed off his strength, battling inside for a bucket then showing West Florida that they were "too little", as the senior finished with 17 points for the night.
 
At the five-minute mark, the Blazers led the Argos 80-69 and forced yet another turnover, the eighth for West Florida in the half. A dunk from UWF's Channick Nkoma followed by a layup from Jay Rucker had VSU on top 82-73 at the under-four timeout. Empty possessions from West Florida and Valdosta State led to time ticking off the clock before three offensive rebounds led to a wide-open three from Argo Sterling White III with two minutes left in the game, VSU leading 82-76. Out of a head coach Mike Helfer timeout, West Florida stuffed the Blazers at the hoop and forced a shot clock violation with 1:30 left. A walk in three from Tautvydas Kupstas had it to a one possession game. Boser got a good look at the three but couldn't get it to drop. UWF called a timeout with possession and 42.2 seconds, as VSU was up 82-79. A great contest from Braxton Williams and LaTrell Tate had Tautvydas Kupstas leave it short, where Tate corralled the rebound and forced UWF to foul, with a three-point lead and a one and one coming up, LaTrell Tate headed to the line. The former Argo showed West Florida what they were missing, sinking two clutch free throws, and kept Valdosta State up 84-79 with 15.1 left on the clock. Valdosta State forced a turnover in the closing seconds to secure a second straight Blazer win, taking down the Argonauts 84-79.
 
The Blazers will stay on the road, traveling to Alabama to take on Montevallo on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 8:30 p.m. ET before taking on Auburn Montgomery on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. ET.