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MBB Season Opener
Darrell Redden Jr.
92
Winner Valdosta St. VSU 6-1,1-0 Gulf South
82
West Ala. WA 3-3,0-1 Gulf South
Winner
Valdosta St. VSU
6-1,1-0 Gulf South
92
Final
82
West Ala. WA
3-3,0-1 Gulf South
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Valdosta St. VSU 50 42 92
West Ala. WA 38 44 82

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Darrell Redden Jr.

Williams' Career Night Not Enough as Tigers Fall to Blazers in GSC Opener

LIVINGSTON, Ala. - Despite a career-high 32 point performance from Thaddeus Williams, the University of West Alabama Men's Basketball team dropped their conference opener to Valdosta State, 92-82, in Pruitt Hall on Thursday night.

UWA (4-3, 0-1 GSC) shot the ball well from the floor but lost the turnover and rebounding battle to VSU ( 6-1, 1-0 GSC), while the Blazers also shot 55 percent from the field and 42 percent from three. 

Valdosta State got out of the gates fast, scoring 21 points in the first five and a half minutes to put West Alabama in an 11-point deficit. The Blazers' full court pressure gave the Tigers trouble in the half as turnovers hurt UWA and propelled VSU to a double-digit lead for majority of the period. Williams was a bright spot for West Alabama in the first as the senior kept UWA in the game, by scoring 19 first half points on 50 percent shooting and 43 percent from three. Despite Williams' scoring barrage, Valdosta State took a 12-point lead into the break off the strength of their 53 percent shooting percentage.

UWA shot 50 percent from the field in the first half but turned the ball over 12 times, resulting in 17 points for VSU.

The Tigers began the second half with Williams and Marcellious Lockett burying back-to-back threes, making it a six-point game in a blink. Moments later, a pair of baskets from Williams and a layup from Caleb McGill cut West Alabama's deficit to five, three minutes into the half. UWA kept chipping away and cut VSU's lead down to as much as three with 14:48 left to play until a three from the Blazers' Cobey Harraway sparked an 8-0 Valdosta State run, putting them back up by 11. Williams continued to score at will for the Tigers while McGill and Rasean Frederick chipped in with buckets here and there, but West Alabama couldn't slow down the Blazers' potent offensive attack as VSU cruised to a 10-point victory.

Williams shot an efficient 60 percent from the floor and 44 percent from three in his 32-point performance, while Frederick poured in 15 points on 7-8 shooting.

West Alabama will get back to work on Saturday as they welcome the West Florida Argonauts for a 6:00 p.m. GSC matchup inside Pruitt Hall.

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