FORT VALLEY, GA – Senior point guard Denard Williams led three Wildcats in double figures as the Fort Valley State University Men's basketball team defeated Tuskegee University 63-59 Saturday night at the HPE Complex.
 
The Wildcats are now 13-11 overall and 10-4 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Tuskegee fell to 6-18 overall and 4-10 in conference play.
 
Williams managed to score a game-high 17 points while making 7-of-10 baskets from the field, hitting one 3-pointer and grabbing a game-high seven rebounds. Junior forward James Barnes and senior point guard Jalen Crawford added 13 and 12 points. Crawford led the team with six assists. The Wildcats forced Tuskegee into 26 turnovers, while gaining 24 points off their effort. The teams tied the game five times and the lead changed twice.
 
A tale of two halfs, as the Wildcats led through the 12:51 mark 13-12, then the Tigers took over for the rest of the half leading by as much as 10 points three times. TU went to halftime up by five (29-24).
 
The second half was like the coach had set fire to the team, because the Crawford came out making threes to tie the game at 33-33 with 15:07 to go.  Junior guard Jamaal Garror's free throw with 13:33 left on the clock gave FVSU the lead for good 38-37. Williams' two free throws pushed the Wildcats lead to 11 (50-39) with 9:10 remaining. Elijah McMillan's foul shots with 2:32 left, cut the Wildcats lead to two (55-53). Then, with 8 seconds on the scoreboard Garror's two free throws put the game away 63-59.
 
The Wildcats made 24-of-51 (47.1 percent) shots from the floor, made two shots from behind the arc and hit 13 of-24 free throws. The Wildcats missed six free throws in a row and almost blew the game.
 
McMillan led the Tigers with 16 points and James Eads added 12. Myles Thomas and Daniel Roach grabbed five boards each.
 
FVSU's final home game is Monday night (Senior Night) as they play Miles College at 8 pm in the HPE Complex.