LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Devin Schmidt totaled 32 points to lead Delta State to a 57-54 come-from-behind win over West Alabama in Gulf South Conference Men's Basketball action at Pruitt Hall on Saturday.
Delta State improves to 6-2 overall, and captures its first GSC win to improve to 1-1 in the league. West Alabama drops to 3-4 and 0-2.
UWA controlled the lead through 14 minutes of the first half, going up by 11 points with one minute left in the period. The Tigers took a 30-24 lead at halftime, shooting 47 percent from the field (10-of-21) and 57 percent from the 3-point arc (4-of-7).
Simeon Dennis made all of his shots except one 3-point field goal in the first half to lead the Tigers with nine points. He finished the half 3-of-4 from the field and 1-of-2 from the arc. Devin Schmidt kept the Statesmen in the game hitting five of the team's nine field goals, including 2-of-3 three-pointers. He led the game with 13 points at the break.
Midway through the second half, Delta State went on a 17 point run to take its first lead of the period at 49-47 with less than six minutes left to play. Schmidt accounted for 11 of the 17 point run. After the Tigers tied the score at 49-49, Schmidt added two more 3-point field goals to help put the game away. He finished 11-for-16 from the field and 6-for-8 from the 3-point line for the game.
The Statesmen held West Alabama to 24 points in the second half as the Tigers fell to shooting 32 percent from the field in the second half (9-of-28), hitting only one of nine 3-pointers. The Tigers finished 38 percent shooting (19-of-49), while Delta State totaled 44 percent (20-of-45), hitting 8-of-16 three's.
Dennis finished with 13 points, followed by
Logan Adams and
Khalil Carter with nine points each. For Adams, it was his season high scoring mark.
Dakari Mayo led the game in blocks for the seventh consecutive game, tallying four against the Statesmen.
"Our second half offense became stagnate, and we just didn't have the same pip in our step that we did in the first half," said UWA head coach
Allen Sharpe.
"I felt good about our pace in the first half, especially coming off our game Thursday night, but we just went flat in the second half. If someone told me we were going to hold them to 57 tonight, I would have said 'I'll take it. We just can't score 24 points in a half and expect to win the game. Overall, I am happy with the way we played, but we just didn't make enough plays down the stretch."
West Alabama men's hoops will return to action on Thursday when it travels to take on Alabama Huntsville. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Huntsville, Ala.
