AMERICUS, Ga. -- The Georgia Southwestern State University men's basketball team shook off a slow start Saturday evening in the Storm Dome and went on to cruise to a 95-67 victory over Fort Valley State University.
GSW has won five of its last six contests and improved to 11-4 overall this season. Fort Valley State opted out of its Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season due to COVID concerns, but made the choice to play the Hurricanes in a pair of non-conference games. The second matchup of the season between the schools will come on Monday.
How It Happened: The visiting Wildcats got Georgia Southwestern's attention when they jumped out to a 19-11 lead. The Hurricanes answered with an 11-2 run sparked by a pair of Jordan Furlough 3-pointers. Tristan Davis gave Fort Valley State its final lead of the night when he answered with a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, but Donte Tatum scored on the Hurricanes next trip down the floor with 8:14 to go before the half and GSW never trailed again. Despite the shift in momentum, it wasn't until the four-minute mark when GSW started to finally pull away. The Hurricanes led 44-32 at the break.
GSW stretched the margin to 20 points with 13:09 remaining.
The Hurricanes turned in their best shooting performance of the season, making 10 of 20 from long range and 64.2 percent overall (34 of 53). GSW played unselfish with 24 assists, which is their most in a game since Jan. 15 of last year. Points in the paint heavily favored the Hurricanes, as well, 42-22, and the fast break points advantage was lopsided in favor of GSW, 23-6.
Who Stood Out: Tatum churned out his eighth 20-plus scoring night with a game-high 24 on Saturday. Tatum sank 10 of 15 shots, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. He secured six rebounds and dished four assists. Jarrett Adderton scored 13 points. Devon Higgs made all five of his shot attempts and finished with 12 points. He led all players with three steals. Kevin Kone was perfect by connecting on 5 of 5 shots as well. Kone scored 11 points. Kahlon Whitley, the Peach Belt Conference assists leader, tallied a dozen dimes.
Fort Valley State was led by Malik Clark's 19 points. Andrew Ziegler added 17. Gregory Holloway fell a rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine boards.
Up Next: The Hurricanes wrap up back-to-back games against Fort Valley State with another home contest on Monday in the Storm Dome at 7:30 p.m. To keep in compliance with Fort Valley State and its conference's COVID policies, no spectators will be allowed to attend.