Owens' double-double helps Blazers rally past Choctaws

Jan. 17—VALDOSTA — For the second straight game, the Valdosta State men's basketball team dug itself out of a double-digit hole.

The Blazers (9-7, 5-4 Gulf South Conference), like they did Thursday night against Delta State, took advantage of the more half court-oriented Mississippi College Choctaws (4-11, 2-6).

With the pace of the game suiting the run-and-gun Blazers, they pummeled the shallow Choctaws unit 52-34 in the second half — shooting an eye-popping 18 of 27 from the floor after halftime to win 87-70 Saturday night.

Junior guard Jacolbey Owens notched the first double-double of his career with 12 points and 11 assists — eight coming in the second half.

"It was defense to offense, especially getting rebounds and getting out and running — that's the way we play," Owens said. "When we got the rebound, coach told me as soon as I get it, push it and get in the lane and get people open."

Trailing by 13 points with 11:44 left in the first half, the Blazers were sloppy with seven turnovers in the first 8 minutes and unable to put the ball in the basket with regularity. The team found itself once again searching for a spark.

Then, the spark arrived.

The Blazers answered with a 13-2 run over the next 3:34 to draw within two at 22-20 with 8:10 left in the half.

Despite the run, the Blazers went into the locker room down 36-35 at intermission.

"One, I didn't like our turnovers," Blazers coach Mike Helfer said. "They were live-ball turnovers that gave them the run-outs, but it does force the tempo of the game and we're used to that and teams that aren't used to that get caught up in wanting to do it but they can't do it physically.

The Blazers got off to a much better start out of the half, jumping out to a 16-3 run to take a 51-39 lead with 14:18 remaining.

Having turned the game completely on its head, the Blazers put the finishing touches on the game with a 3-pointer by DJ Mitchell to give the Blazers their largest lead of 19 points with 38 seconds to play.

"I thought the whole game was a great GSC game," Helfer said. "I thought it was physical. I thought it was aggressive. I thought both teams made some plays. Eventually, our depth wore them down a little bit. We played 10 guys. It was a great GSC basketball game."

Redshirt junior Cam Hamilton poured in a game-high 18 points, knocking down 4 of 7 triples in 33 minutes. Big man Michael Cole added 16 points and eight rebounds, Ricky Brown chipped in with 11 points and Mohamed Fofana had 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.

Lamont Berzat had a team-high 15 points off the bench for the Choctaws. Tradavis Thompson and Galen Smith each had 13 points in the loss.

The Blazers finished the game shooting 50% from the floor and 11 of 21 from 3-point range. With the win, the Blazers have won two straight — matching their longest winning streak of the season.

VSU women 76

Mississippi College 58

The Valdosta State women (13-2, 8-1 GSC) overcame a 3-point shooting barrage by Mississippi College (8-7, 3-5) over the second and third quarters to pull away and win 76-58 in the opener.

Tamiya Francis led the way with 17 points for the Blazers. Nicole Heyn added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the win.

With starting center Kwajelin Farrar struggling with just six points and six rebounds in 21 minutes, the Blazers got a lift from graduate student Mallory Odell.

Odell, a 6-1 power forward, poured in 10 points with five rebounds and a block in 19 minutes off the bench.

After forcing the Choctaws to go 1 of 13 from the floor in the first quarter, the Blazers led 20-2 and pushed the lead to 25-4 early in the second quarter. The Choctaws bounced back, shooting 50% from the floor and 7 of 13 from beyond the arc across the span of the middle two quarters.

While the Choctaws shooting and pressure defense helped them get back into the game and cut the deficit to three in the third quarter, they eventually ran out of gas in the fourth. The Blazers held the Choctaws to 5 of 18 shooting and 1 of 5 from the 3-point line in the final period.

Conversely, the Blazers shot 58.3% in the fourth and finished at 48% for the game. The Blazers made the Choctaws pay from the outside, hitting 9 of 17 triples — led by a perfect 3 for 3 performance by Delaney Bernard.

Ally Alford led the Choctaws with 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting with three 3-pointers. Dezirae King added 11 points and four steals in the loss.

With the win, the Blazers have won six consecutive games.

UP NEXT

Valdosta State hits the road for a Tennessee swing as they visit Christian Brother Jan. 20, followed by Union Jan. 22. The Blazers return home Saturday, Jan. 29 to face West Florida.

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.