VALDOSTA, Ga. – Down by as many as 19 points in the first half, the No. 9 Valdosta State men's basketball team kept chipping away, and as time expired, senior Beau Justice drained a long triple from the corner of the scorer's table for a thrilling 78-75 victory over visiting West Alabama Saturday Afternoon.
Justice, who had just two points at halftime on two free throws, scored 16 points in the second half with none bigger than the desperation heave from long range at the buzzer for the victory. UWA's Josh Fleming scored with nine seconds left to tie the game at 75 as VSU took its first lead with 24 seconds left since the first half, prior to the Fleming bucket.
The Blazers pushed the ball up court and senior Desmond DeRamus passed to Justice from the corner as he took an off-balance shot from the front of the coaches' box for the winner. He finished the game with 18 points on 5 of 13 from the field, four second half triples and 4 of 6 from the line.
VSU (12-2, 5-1 GSC) senior Clay Guillozet was the key cog in the second half comeback as VSU outscored UWA 57-36 in the second half after the Tigers jumped out to a 39-21 lead at intermission. Guillozet scored a game-high 26 points with 18 in the second half as he was 10 of 16 from the field for the game and 6 of 6 from the line, while working hard on the glass with 11 rebounds. Junior Bryce Smith added 12 points on 3 of 6 from the field and 5 of 7 from the line.
In a tale of two halves, the Blazers were absolutely ice cold in the first half, going just 8 of 33 from the field for a season-low 24.2 percent, while going 0 of 12 from beyond the arc and 5 of 8 from the line. Guillozet had a team-high eight points of a season-low 19 points. VSU shot a blistering 61.3 percent in the second half on 19 of 31, while draining 7 of 14 triples and making 12 of 15 free throws.
West Alabama (8-4, 3-2 GSC) shot 15 of 31 from the field for 48.4 percent in the first half, but went 13 of 32 from the field in the second half as the Tigers were 28 of 63 from the field for the game for 44.4 percent, while going 10 of 23 from beyond the arc and 9 of 10 from the line. Four Tigers were in double figures led by 19 points from Fleming on 6 of 14 from the field with five triples and two free throws.
VSU shot 27 of 64 from the field for the game for 42.2 percent, while going 7 of 26 from range and really made up much of the difference in the margin at the free throw line, going 17 of 23 from the stripe.
The Blazers held a 43-32 lead in rebounding and a 12-5 margin on the offensive end leading to a 10-5 lead in second chance points. The game saw three ties and six lead changes.
After the dismal first half, VSU came out of the gates with a renewed vigor in the second half. The Blazers used a jumper from DeRamus and a dunk "and one" from Smith in the first minute for a 39-26 deficit.
Back-to-back triples from Smith and Justice, who scored his first field goal of the game with 15:52 left, cut the deficit back to 12 and a layup from junior Darrell Jones made the score 44-34 as VSU used an 8-0 run with 15:27 left.
Later, DeAndre Harper buried a triple for a 57-41 lead with 11:16 left as Justice then cut the deficit to nine with a layup with 7:32 left at 59-50 on a 9-2 run. UWA pushed the lead back to 13, but Guillozet stepped up and earned an "and one" starting six-straight points from him for a 66-60 deficit with 5:34 left.
Guillozet tied the game at 70 with 2:10 left on a jumper, but UWA answered with a triple at the other end. Guillozet scored with 58 second left for a one-point deficit and then scored the go ahead bucket with 24 seconds remaining. He scored 18 of the final 25 points for the Blazers.
The Blazers now head on the road next week at Mississippi College and Delta State. Spencer Van Horn will have the call of the games on 92.1 WDDQ FM. Check back with vstateblazers.com for links to live stats and audio/video streaming for the games.
