LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The University of West Alabama Men's Basketball team outscored Valdosta State University 41-25 in the second half to win 76-61 in Gulf South Conference action at Pruitt Hall Monday.
West Alabama remains perfect in all of its five home games so far this season and improves to 11-7 overall; 6-4 in the GSC. The win comes on the same day that West Alabama was announced as the 10
th team in the first D2SIDA Regional Poll. Valdosta State drops its fifth straight and falls to 7-9 and 2-8.
The Blazers battled back from a six point deficit in the first two minutes to edge out a 36-35 lead at the half. The Tiger defense limited VSU to 7-of-28 of its second half field goals, after allowing 14-of-27 in the first.
"We expected a fight with them coming in off of four straight losses," said UWA head coach
Allen Sharpe. "We were disappointed with how many points we gave up at the half and we responded in the second half. We've done a great job in our last few games of being balanced, and that is a sign of a good team."
UWA finished 26-of-51 from the field, led by
Charles Eaton, who accounted for all 18 bench points shooting 5-for-11. The Blazers finished with four bench points.
West Alabama converted 22 of its 30 free-throw attempts. Eaton entered the game as the Tigers best free-throw shooter hitting 81 percent (45-for-55) on the season. He finished 8-for-11 in the game.
Jarell Byrd,
Justin Wright and
Kenric McCants each added double-digit scoring numbers. Byrd tallied a season best of 17, Wright finished with 16 and McCants posted 11 points with six assists. Byrd led the rebounding effort with nine.
Demetrius Powe led the defense with three blocks, while he, McCants, Wright and Eaton each had two steals. The Tigers turned 24 Blazer turnovers into 29 points, while allowing just 17 points off of 13 turnovers. They also led in the paint, 40-20, after being held to just 2-for-6 beyond the 3-point line.
Blake Justice led VSU with 18 points, shooting 4-for-10 from the field; 8-for-9 from the free-throw line.
West Alabama remains at home and in GSC action to face West Georgia on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. in Pruitt Hall.
