VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 19 Valdosta State Blazers used a big second half to propel past the Christian Brothers Buccaneers at The Complex on Saturday evening, as they outscored CBU by 20 in the second half to come out with a 90-75 win. Valdosta State improved to 13-2 overall and 8-1 in GSC play while Christian Brothers dropped to 7-8 overall and 3-6 in GSC play. VSU has now won seven games in a row for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
 
Graduate Student JC Clausi tied a career-high with 18 points off the bench in the second half on 7-10 from the floor and 4-5 from deep in just 14 minutes of action as he was head coach Mike Helfer's spark plug on Saturday when the team needed a boost. As a team, Valdosta State was +22 in the turnover department, as they forced 27 turnovers and committed only five as a team that resulted in 34 points off turnovers. Christian Brothers dominated the boards, as they out rebounded Valdosta State 41-22 on the evening with 13 of the boards coming on the offensive end for 14 second chance points.
 
Individually, five VSU players scored ten or more points as Clausi led the way with 18. Senior Carlos Hart was third on the team in scoring with 11 points while he hauled in six rebounds and recorded a game-high four steals and six assists. Junior MJ Jones tallied 13 points on 5-6 from the floor while he poked away two steals and committed no turnovers. For CBU, big man Christian Thompson scored 18 points and hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds on 9-11 from the floor.
 
Junior Antonio Green opened things up with a right handed layup to put the Blazers up 2-0. The Bucs came back with four straight points on back-to-back possessions to jump out to a 4-2 lead. Both teams would trade baskets until a layup from CBU's Iman Kheirati put Christian Brothers up 11-10 heading into the first media timeout. Coming out of the break, CBU would extend their lead to five on a triple with Tane Kirisome. Both teams would go scoreless for a minute until a jumper from Jones brought it back to a one possession game with 12:59 left in the first half.
 
The Blazers were able to cut it to one on a layup from Jones that was quickly retaliated with a three ball from Nmeso Nnebedum followed by two more quick baskets to go on a 7-0 run over 54 seconds as CBU led 28-20 heading into the under-eight media timeout. A pair of free throws out of the break grew the Buccaneer lead to ten at the 6:37 mark. Valdosta State couldn't gain any momentum until the very end of the first half, as an offensive rebound by junior Drew Mills resulted in a wide-open look for MJ Jones on the right wing, as he buried a triple at the buzzer to cut the deficit to five as they trailed 43-38 heading into the locker room.
 
Valdosta State shot 13-44 (.295) from the field and 3-16 from distance (.188) compared to Christian Brothers who shot 18-29 (.621) from the floor and 4-8 (.500) from deep. CBU's Tane Kirisome led all scorers with ten points on 4-6 from the floor and 2-3 from three point range. For Valdosta State, juniors Lucas Brown Jr. and Drew Mills each had nine points off the bench.
 
The Blazers exploded to open the second half, as they quickly went on a 9-0 run in just over two minutes to lead 47-43 that quickly prompted a timeout from the Bucs. Coming out of the break, CBU was able to cut the game to a one-possession game until JC Clausi started his second half dominance, hitting a three to give the Blazers a 52-47 lead with 15:09 left in the game. The Bucs wouldn't go away, as Christian Thompson scored a basket inside to make it a one point game with just under 14 minutes left in the game. The Blazers would then go on a 10-2 run to grow the lead to nine on a tipin from Drew Mills, who would finish the game with four offensive rebounds and six in total. Clausi would start to heat up, as he hit two triples in three possessions to grow the VSU lead to ten as the Blazers led 69-59 with nine minutes left in the game. As the Buccaneers tried to claw back, Clausi would score eight straight points by himself in three shot attempts and the Blazers would finally bury the Bucs and win their seventh-straight game by a final of 90-75 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Blazers have their biggest road test of the season, as they will travel to Alabama to take on Montevallo on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET followed by Auburn Montgomery on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. before hosting No. 6 Alabama Huntsville and West Alabama for Hall of Fame Weekend starting on Jan. 23.