FORT VALLEY, Ga. – The Wildcats' motor misfired and took a bit to get going on Monday on the home court. Edward Waters dropped a trio of 3-pointers in the opening three minutes, put up the opening 14 points of the day and proved to be enough to hold off Fort Valley State, 102-81, in men's basketball.

The visiting Tigers (7-9/6-3 SIAC East) downed three of their 14 treys in that first 2:41 of the contest to push them to the 14-0 lead. The Wildcats (3-12/3-6 SIAC East) fought back to within 10 points four times the rest of the first half and could only make it to within 11 points in the final 20 minutes.

Coming off the bench, Davorian Rudolph and Kevan Eskridge gave FVSU its biggest production of the day. Both players scored 11 points apiece in the first half on a combined 9 of 14 field goals and seven rebounds. Rudolph finished with a team-high 18 points on 7 of 12 shots with eight boards and Eskridge was right behind with 17 points to go with four caroms and three assists.

Khadim Samb added 10 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Kenton Eskridge chipped in eight points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Myson Lowe had nine points.

On the game, FVSU hit only 3 of 22 from long range, while Edward Waters connected on 14 of 27 of its 3-point tries.

Amari Floyd led all scorers with 25 points and five triples to lead the Tigers 102-point day.

Down 14-0, Rudolph entered the game and made the home team's first bucket at 16:36. The forward also hit a 3-pointer to cut the difference down to 12 at 24-12 eight minutes later. He also had a jumper to make it a 10-point margin for the second of four times in the last eight minutes of the first half.

Trailing 47-34 at half, Samb laid in the opening second-half bucket to cut the difference back to 11 points, but the gae was no closer the rest of the way.

FVSU aims to reverse the result next on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 20) on the road at Allen University in Columbia, S.C., in a 3 p.m. start time.

-Wildcats-