LAKELAND, Fla. – With six seconds left to play, University of West Georgia sophomore Deonta Stocks, drove the link of the court and delivered the game winning layup to defeat the University of West Alabama 80-79 in the first round of the NCAA South Regional tournament on Saturday.

The loss eliminates West Alabama from the tournament as the Tigers end the season with the most single season wins in program history at 22-12 overall. West Georgia advances to the Regional Quarterfinals with a 22-8 overall record to face the No. 1 team in the nation, Florida Southern on Sunday.

"We pride ourselves on defending and we just didn't get that done in the second half," said UWA head coach Allen Sharpe. "The last possession really summed up the second half for us. 79 points is supposed to be enough for us to win, but we didn't make enough defensive plays. Stocks won the game. He was the difference maker and I think we can say that after playing them four times this year. He just did it by himself."

The final basket gave Stocks, the Gulf South Conference Player of the Year, 33 total points in the game; 20 in the second half.

Both teams battled through seven lead changes in the second half. West Alabama took a 79-78 lead with six second left to play off of a 3-point field goal by Justin Wright, setting up Stocks game winner.

Wright was one of four Tigers to score double-digit figures, leading with 21 points. Wright finished 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-6 from the 3-point line. Lleon Tillman followed with 15 points, while Charles Eaton and Deontaye Ewing each tallied 13.  

UWA controlled the first half, exploding with a 19-4 point run to take its biggest lead of the game at 33-18. The Wolves fought their way back to cut the Tigers lead down to five. Both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field in the first half, but it was West Alabama's four 3-point field goals that gave it the 40-35 edge going into halftime. UWG failed to hit any of its five 3-point attempts in the half.

West Georgia outscored the Tigers 45-39 in the second half by continuing to shoot better than 50 percent from the field and adding 3-of-6 from the 3-point line. West Alabama slipped to 46 percent in the second half and 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.

The Tigers led the rebounding effort 34-28 to outscore the Wolves 14-5 second chance points. Demetrius Powe led UWA with eight boards. Emory Bernard led UWG with 10. UWG led in points off turnovers turning 14 Tiger turnovers into 20 points.

West Alabama ends its first season under head coach Allen Sharpe, having set a new bar for UWA men's basketball. Along with the most single season wins, Sharpe has led the Tigers to their most single season conference wins, first GSC Tournament championship appearance since 1994 and first regular season GSC Title since 1982; second ever.

"I just told the guys after the game that I'm proud of how they bought in, especially the guys that have been here through multiple coaches," said Sharpe. "That means a lot to me. Hopefully we can build off of that and keep this thing going by continuing to go farther and farther in this tournament."