NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 7 Blazers came ahead with a big road win on Saturday afternoon, as VSU defeated the TNU Trojans by a final of 96-84 in the Music City. Valdosta State improved to 19-3 overall and 14-2 in GSC play while Trevecca Nazarene dropped to 16-6 overall and 11-5 in the GSC.
 
Despite a 36-point performance from TNU's Jikari Johnson, the duo of Drew Mills and Maalik Leitch fended him off as Mills finished with 23 and Leitch closed the game with 21. On top of his 23 points, Mills recorded his second double-double of the season with ten rebounds and four assists while committing zero turnovers. Leitch continued to light it up as he shot 8-11 from the floor and was two points away from tying a season high in points.
 
Free throws were the difference maker, as VSU shot 14-16 from the line while TNU struggled, shooting 13-21 from the stripe as they missed key free throws late in the second half. Despite only forcing 11 turnovers, the Blazers scored 30 points in transition for a +11 margin while only committing five turnovers themselves.
 
VSU is sitting firmly in the second spot in the GSC standings, as they hold a 3.5 game advantage over TNU and UM for that two spot while sitting 2.5 games behind UAH for first.
 
The Trevecca Nazarene came out in a zone defense against Valdosta State and junior guard MJ Jones took advantage of a wide open three on an over rotation to give VSU a 3-0 lead. Following a free throw from TNU, Carlos Hart dropped in a nice floater to regive the Blazers the lead. A triple from Drew Mills gave VSU an 8-4 lead before a quick 4-0 TNU run had things all square at eight heading into the first media timeout.
 
The Blazers came out of the break on a 12-3 run to jump ahead 20-11 capped off by wide-open three pointer by Hart in the left corner on a great pass from Mills. Valdosta State would hold a steady 27-19 lead until Jikari Johnson and Hank Hutcheson hit back to back threes to make it a 29-24 game with just under seven minutes to play in the first half. Junior Maalik Leitch would drive and finish with his right hand to grow the lead back to seven heading to a media break.
 
The Trojans would battle back and cut the deficit to four on back to dunks inside in transition before senior Braxton Williams finished strong inside with his left hand. A floater from Trevecca's Mateo Esmeraldo cut it back to four. Following another empty VSU possession, TNU made it a one possession game on a second chance basket with 1:24 left in the game. Following a pair of free throws from Carlos Hart, Trevecca freshman Brett Wright hit a fadeaway triple in the left corner to make it a one point game. After Valdosta State missed on the other end, Trevecca took the lead on a pair of free throws and forced a Mike Helfer timeout with 30 seconds left. After being doubled at the top of the key, Hart threw a great cross court pass to Leitch who drilled a triple with five seconds left to give the Blazers a 44-42 lead heading into the break.
 
Valdosta State shot 17-37 from the field for a .459 clip while Trevecca was 16-33 for a .485 clip. VSU was 5-16 from deep while TNU was 6-17. The Blazers had a balanced scoring effort, as three Blazers scored nine or more points with Hart leading the way with 11 points and four rebounds. Jikari Johnson had a game high 14 points at the break as the Trojan shot 5-11 from the floor and 2-7 from distance.
 
An offensive rebound off a missed free three led to a wide open three for TNU's Johnson who knock it home to give the Trojans a one point lead. Hart retaliated with a tough basket inside to give the Blazers a 46-45 lead. Jikari Johnson continued to work for Trevecca, as he finished an and one inside to give TNU the lead once again. After a triple from Braxton Williams, Mateo Esmeraldo caught the Blazers jumping on an and one to give them a two point lead. Williams came down and hit another three as both teams could not be stopped to open the second half as a total of 19 points had been scored before three minutes had passed in the second half. Junior Lucas Brown Jr. rose up for an alley oop slam as he extended the VSU lead to three at 56-53 with 15:45 left in the game. Following a defense stop, Leitch would come up too strong on a layup and as he fell onto the floor, the ball bounced around and landed in his lap where he then dumped the ball off from the seat of his pants to Tony Green Jr. for a layup to extend the lead to five heading into the first media break.
 
Coming out of the break, VSU forced two quick turnovers that resulted in four points in the paint that forced a timeout from TNU head coach Kevin Carroll as the Blazers were up 62-53 with 14:27 left in the contest.
 
The Trojans came out of the break on fire as they drilled two quick threes and a tough jumper to go an 8-0 run and cut it to a one possession game. Leitch would end the scoreless run for a layup inside to send us to the under 12 timeout with the Blazers clinging onto a 64-61 lead.
 
Junior Peter McKey joined the scoring column with a pair of free throws coming out of the break. Following a missed layup inside from Esmeraldo, Drew Mills got loose and transition and finished a layup with ease to grow the lead back to seven. Both teams were trading punches as a layup from Jakari Johnson cut it back to six as VSU still led, 74-68 with 6:18 left in the game.
 
Coming out a media break, Leitch continue to ignite the Trojans from the bench as the lefty drove to the right side and converted on a tough and one. TNU would fight back with two baskets to make it a five point game. After a VSU missed jumper, TNU had a wide open look from deep that they couldn't convert, and the Blazers make them pay as Drew Mills drilled a jumper from 15 feet as it was 79-72 with 5:08 left. Mills would grow the lead to double digits to 11 with a right hook as the Blazers were up 83-72 heading into the final media timeout.
 
Following a made free throw from Trevecca, Braxton Williams muscled home an offensive rebound and was fouled in the active shooting as he knocked home a pair of free throws to grow the lead to a dozen. Following a strong Blazer defensive possession, MJ Jones knocked home a three pointer to give VSU their largest lead of the night at 15 with 2:25 remaining. Following a small scuffle, Mills was assessed a technical foul along which resulted in a pair of free throws from Esmeraldo to make it a 13 points game with 1:54 left.
 
The Jikarhi Johnson show was on full-effect as he converted an and-one to bring his point total to 34 with 1:15 left. Leitch would be fouled with 1:13 left and he drilled a pair of free throws to make it 94-80 as time was running out for TNU. The Trojans couldn't convert anything down the stretch as the Blazers came out with a 96-84 victory.