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Rene Scott
Joe Chance
73
Winner West Ala. WA 20-6,13-5 Gulf South
69
West Ga. UWG 6-19,4-13 Gulf South
Winner
West Ala. WA
20-6,13-5 Gulf South
73
Final
69
West Ga. UWG
6-19,4-13 Gulf South
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
West Ala. WA 28 45 73
West Ga. UWG 32 37 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Tigers Grind Out 73-69 Win over UWG

CARROLLTON, Ga. – It was not an easy game by any stretch of the imagination, but the University of West Alabama men's basketball team showed poise down the stretch and delivered a 73-69 win over the West Georgia Wolves Thursday night in Gulf South Conference action at the Coliseum.
 
UWA improved to 20-6 on the season and 13-5 in the GSC. The Wolves fell to 6-19 overall and 4-13 in league play.
 
"It's tough to win on the road. Credit to our guys for showing some toughness down the stretch to pull out the win. West Georgia may be the best 6-19 team in the country," said Head coach Allen Sharpe. "For a while, it looked like we didn't come out to play and we had some tough conversations during timeouts and halftime. The guys stepped up and got an important win.
 
West Georgia took a 32-28 halftime lead to the locker room, but the Tigers erupted in the second half to outscore the home team 45-37 to secure the gritty road victory.
 
LaJuan Hardy led the charge with 22 points, four rebounds and two assists. Rene Scott finished with 17 points.
 
Ricky Dunnaway and Mike Davis both notched double-doubles as Dunnaway went for 18 points and 12 rebounds along with three assists and two blocks while Davis had 12 points and 15 rebounds.
 
'When you have eight seniors, you have to play grown man basketball," said Sharpe. "We did that tonight with Ricky and Mike both getting double-doubles and making some tough put backs in the paint. Hopefully, a win like this energizes the team so we don't come out as slow as we did again like tonight."
 
Part of the slow start were turnovers as West Alabama ended the game with 21 turnovers which the Wolves converted into 24 points on the other side. Conversely, UWG only turned the ball over nine times and the Tigers scored eight points of those mistakes.
 
As a team, UWA shot 48.1 percent (26-of-54) from the floor, 35.7 percent (5-of-14) from three and 66.7 percent (16-of-24) from the free throw line. Twenty-two of the free throw attempts came in the second half.
 
Kadeim Jones led the Wolves in scoring with 19 points. Michael Zabetakis finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Orontè Anderson scored 11.
 
The win was a historic one for the men's basketball program as it marks the first time in UWA history the team has won at least 20 games in back to back seasons.
 
"I guess we'll take time to reflect on this after the season," said Sharpe. "You have to proud of what we've been able to do over the last few years. When people think of the Gulf South Conference, maybe now they'll think of West Alabama as one of the best teams in it."
 
The Tigers face a colossal road challenge Saturday as they take on the Valdosta State Blazers. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. central with links to live video and live stats available on uwaathletics.com.
 
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