FORT VALLEY, GA (January 5, 2017) – Fort Valley State University (5-8; 3-1) men's basketball team had to go into overtime Thursday night for the 67-63 win over visiting Spring Hill College (2-11; 1-1) at the HPE Complex.
It took overtime for the Wildcats win Thursday night, after blowing an 18-point halftime lead. Notched at 57 and two half's of play, SHC went up by 61-57 with 3:37 on the clock. Senior forward
Dareial Franklin's 3-pointer cut the lead to 61-60 and sophomore point guard
Tyler Edwards dunk with 2:21 left in OT gave FVSU a 62-61 lead. Junior forward
James Barnes layup, junior guard
Jamaal Garror and sophomore guard Jaylan McMillan free throws increased the score to 67-63 and the OT win.
In the first half, SHC last lead came at the 12:59 mark 11-10, before senior forward
Denard Williams steal and dunk advanced the Wildcats to 12-11 with 12:10 to go. At the 9:02 mark, McMillan 3-pointer upped FVSU's lead to 22-11 and another three by senior guard
Ray Mobley with 2:46 left made it 34-18. Senior guard
Dekoven Ware two free throws sent the Wildcats to halftime up 38-20.
Second half, the Badgers tied the game at 42 with 9:18 to go, then went up 46-44 with 6:48 left. Badgers largest lead of six came at the 4:48 mark. With 2:04 on the clock Franklin's 3-pointer tied the game 54-54 and SHC's Jared Holland free throws would send the game to OT at 57-57 with .59 second remaining.
Franklin led the Wildcats in scoring with a game-high 17-points, while making 5-of-13 buckets, four three point baskets, and 3-of-5 at the foul line, four boards and one block. Barnes had a game-high 11 rebounds and four points, Williams and junior point guard
J. R. Bryant dished out four assist each. Garror added eight points, senior point guard
Jalen Crawford had seven and senior center
Kris Bell, Edward and McMillan had six points apiece.
The Badgers was led by Walter Massey with 15-points and Brandon Fischer grabbed 10 boards and 14-points.
The Wildcats scored on 25-of-71 buckets, hit 6-of-28 three pointers, went 11-of-24 at the foul line. FVSU grabbed 47 rebounds to SHC's 48. Both team scored 24 points in the paint, while FVSU made 20 points off turnovers and 38 points from beach players.
FVSU will host the Dragons of Lane College on Saturday, January 7 at 3 pm.
