FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 4-seeded and No. 21-ranked Valdosta State men's basketball team was unable to overcome a slow start en route to a 95-87 loss to No. 5-seed West Alabama in the NCAA South Regional at Nova Southeastern University. VSU ends its season at 24-7, while UWA improves to 23-7.
The Blazers were led by 30 points from outstanding senior Beau Justice who was 7 of 15 from the field, 2 of 7 from beyond the arc and 14 of 16 from the line. He was the lone starter in double figures, while senior Keshawn Ingram added 10 points and junior Darrell Jones chipped in 11 points.
VSU struggled early in the game as it was 7 of 21 from the field in the first half, while going 3 of 12 from beyond the arc, but did make up for the poor shooting making 18 of 21 free throws in the first stanza. The Blazers shot much better in the second half, and regained the lead after trailing by as many as 11 midway through the second half. VSU was 16 of 32 from the field in the final half, drained six triples and went 14 of 21 from the line.
UWA had a double-double from Ricky Dunnaway with 24 points and 11 rebounds leading five Tigers in double figures. Darron Johnson added 21 points, while LaJuan Hardy chipped in 19 points and was 10 of 11 from the line. Charles Tripp was the fourth starter in double figures with 12 points and Tyrus Grayson added 11 off the bench.
The Tigers shot a blistering 64 percent from the field for the game, including 18 of 22 (.818) from the field in the second half, while draining all three triples in the second half and going 19 of 23 from the line for the frame. UWA was 32 of 50 from the field for the game, 6 of 11 from beyond the arc and 25 of 31 from the line as the teams combined for 57 of 73 from the line.
Despite the loss, VSU completed another outstanding season, winning or sharing its third-straight conference regular season title as it shared the league title this season with West Alabama. VSU has gone 76-18 over the last three years under head coach Mike Helfer. Helfer has guided the team to three-straight NCAA Tournament berths also, marking the most consecutive NCAA berths in school-history.
The Blazers had seven key seniors who completed outstanding careers for the red and black as the 2018-19 senior class included; Desmond DeRamus, Max Harris, Keshawn Ingram, Tyler Johnson, Beau Justice, Winston Morgan and Greg Zuppas.
In a very slow first half, the Tigers slowed the high-powered Blazer offense down as neither team gained much of an advantage with VSU having its largest lead of four at 24-20 with 7:39 left in the half. The Tigers used an 8-2 run for a 37-30 lead with 1:17 left, but the Blazers responded cutting the deficit to 37-35 at intermission.
Justice had just six points at halftime on 1 of 4 from the field, 0 of 2 from beyond the arc and 4 of 5 from the line. D. Johnson and Dunnaway had 11 and 12 points, respectively, for the Tigers. The 18 of 21 free throw shooting kept VSU in the game as UWA was 6 of 8 from the line.
The Tigers pushed the lead to 11 on two occasions, first on a layup from Dunnaway and then a jumper from Hardy for a 55-44 lead with 11:59 left.
Justice caught fire and buried a triple, followed by a steal and layup from junior Clay Guillozet. Later, Justice started another run with two free throws pulling VSU within 62-56 with 9:49 left and used a 14-5 run for a 66-64 lead with 6:21 left. VSU turned up the pressure defensively with a full court press, forcing UWA into a number of turnovers during the run.
Hardy hit two free throws to tie the game and VSU led twice more with the last being at 69-68 with 5:37 left. From there, UWA took control and pushed the lead to 11 with 59 seconds left at 90-79 on a pair of tosses from Johnson.
