CARROLLTON, Ga. – Holding the Gulf South Conference highest scoring team to its season low was not enough for West Alabama men's basketball, who fell to West Georgia 68-63 in conference action at The Coliseum on Saturday. The Wolves entered the game averaging 91.5 points per game.

West Georgia improves to 11-5 overall and 8-3 in the GSC. West Alabama falls to 9-8 and 5-6.  

"West Georgia does a good job of keeping teams out of their flow with the full court press," said UWA head coach Allen Sharpe.

"We try to be an organized structured team and the press takes that out of us. We just didn't do enough on the offensive end. If you would have told me, coming in, that we were going to hold them to 68, then I would have taken it and thought we won. We struggled especially in the first half, missing layups. Our offense just has to get better than that. You can only defend so much."

The Tiger defense was spearheaded by Dakari Mayo who set his single game career high with 14 blocked shots, matching his previous high of seven in both halves.

Along with two more blocks from Billy Ingram and Marcel Moorer, UWA combined for 16 blocks, breaking the previous team record of 14 set in 1986-87 against Lambuth. Mayo became the program's third all-time leader in the second half with 130 career blocks, surpassing James McClendon (1992-94) who owned 127.

"If Dakari hadn't got on the bus, they might have gotten 90 points," Sharpe said." He makes such a major difference for us. He has come a long way in two years as a young man in many areas, not only on the court."

Mayo finished with his second double-double, tallying 14 rebounds. Ingram followed with his season high board performance, posting 10.

Deontaye Ewing led the offense with his season high of 19 points, making 11-of-12 at the free throw line. Only six of his points came from the field.

The Tigers opened the first eight minutes of the game, hitting five of their 10 field goal attempts (2-of-4 from the 3-point line), but struggled in the ensuing 12 minutes, sinking only 5-of-28 (1-of-1 three-pointers). West Georgia managed to claim a 34-25 lead at the break, shooting 14-of-34 from the field; 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.

Shooting woes continued for UWA in the second half as it made only five field goals with three and a half minutes remaining. Adding four more field goals down the stretch, it lifted its second half percentage to 47 percent (9-of-19), 1-of-3 were from beyond the 3-point line. 19 of the Tigers points came in 23 trips (83 percent) to the free throw line in the second half. They totaled 21-of-25 free throws in the game.  

Despite the offensive struggles, West Alabama outscored the Wolves 38-34 in the second half, even cutting the deficit to two points in the final minute, as West Georgia made only 9-of-29 from the field (31 percent), 3-of-4 three's and 13-of-22 from the charity stripe (59 percent).  

West Georgia turned to a large rotation against the Tigers, with 10 of its 12 guys, who saw action, tallying points. Shannon Fowler led with 11.  

West Alabama men's hoops remain on the road to take on Delta State in the fourth of a five game road swing on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. in Cleveland, Miss.