TOUGALOO, Miss. – The Blazers split the season series with Mississippi College’s Choctaws on Saturday afternoon, falling 83-79 in a thrilling game.
The game came down to the final seconds, with Valdosta State possessing the ball after a pair of missed free throws from Mississippi College with a chance to tie or take the lead, as a loose ball found the hands of the Choctaws as they were able to squeak out with a win.
The Blazers drop to 8-12 on the season and 5-11 in conference play. The Choctaws improved to 10-8 overall and 9-5 in GSC play.
Five Blazers scored in double figures, as junior Caden Boser was able to get back on track with 19 points on 7-8 from the floor and 4-4 from downtown. Valdosta State shot .60% from the floor as a team and .500 from three on six makes. The charity stripe was their friend, as they shot a season best .840 from the line on 21 makes as Mike Isler went 7-7 to lead the team.
Things started out fast for the Choctaws, as TJ Wallace hit two three pointers on the first two possessions to give MC an early 6-0 lead. Graduate student LaTrell Tate carried his strong play into this game, as he got things going for VSU with a jumper to make it 6-2 Mississippi College. A quick layup inside by graduate student Jay Rucker made it 6-4 Choctaws.
Both teams went quiet offensively, going without a basket for three minutes until Caden Boser broke the silence with a trey ball on the assist from Tate to cut the deficit to 12. It was a back-and-forth basket affair as senior Mike Isler got one to go inside before Cam Brown came right back for MC with a jumper to keep the lead at 12. Boser was able to get the deficit to single digits with another three to send VSU into the media break trailing 27-18.
Tate silenced a Choctaws run on a corner three on a pass from graduate student JC Clausi, trailing 37-26. Cam Brown of Mississippi College got one to go home inside to extend the lead to 13. Going into the break, the Choctaws led the Blazers by a score of 43-30.
The turnovers were the difference in the first half, as Valdosta State committed 11 turnovers to Mississippi College’s three. Both teams shot it well, with VSU shooting 11-21 and MC shooting 17-33 from the floor. The Blazers made all five free throws they attempted in the first half.
Wallace started the second half just like he did the first, except this time he knocked down a two-point jumper seven seconds into the second half to make it 45-30. Clausi came right back with a jumper on the other end to negate the opening shot from the Choctaws.
Out of the break, junior Braxton Williams knocked down a free throw to try and slow down Mississippi College. Senior Lee Flenor, who is the leading rebounder in the GSC, got one to go inside then knocked down a pair of free throws two possessions later to make it 58-42 in favor of MC.
Boser played physical today, bruising inside and converting a “and-one” layup in attempt to ignite the Blazer offense. Flenor got a layup on the block to start a quick 5-0 run before two free throws from the Choctaws’ Rashad Bolden extinguished it.
Boser knocked home another triple to cut the deficit to 10 with 10:22 remaining. MC came back with a layup on the other end before Tate got a hoop and a harm to get the game to single digits. Rashad Bolden continued his surge, knocking home a three to make it 65-53 with 9:15 left in the game.
The Blazers showed no quit, as a steal from Tate and a layup on the other end from Flenor made it an eight-point game, VSU trailing 65-57. A layup from MC got the lead back to 10 heading into the under eight media timeout.
Out of the timeout, graduate student Jay Rucker flushed one home off the assist from Tate to get it back to eight. The zone defense was tough to manage, as a turnover from the Blazer offense resulted in an “and-one” at the other end of the floor as the Choctaws grew their lead back to 13 with just under six minutes remaining.
A high-flying Isler slammed one home off the alley-oop from Tate got it to 11. The Tate masterclass continued, as he weaved his way into the lane for an “and-one”, where he would miss the shot at the line, trailing 75-65 at the last media break.
Rucker knocked down two free throws out of the break to cut it to eight yet again. The Choctaws came back quickly with a layup as time was starting to runout for VSU. Rucker was left open on the left wing, and splashed home a three that prompted a quick timeout from head coach Mike Helfer, with his team trailing 77-70 as 3:22 remained.
A quick stop on the other end led to an open layup for Flenor, as Valdosta State was only trailing by five. A missed free throw from MC gave VSU the ball with 2:00 remaining. Boser got the Choctaws flying around, stepping into a clean three-point look as it was a one possession game. A tough fadeaway jumper on the other end made it a four-point game with 1:11 remaining as Tate was fouled a was heading to the charity stripe for two. He knocked both down as the Blazers trailed by two yet again.
A foul on the other end led to a one and one for the Choctaws as one was knocked down to extend the lead to three. A poor pass led to a Valdosta State turnover and VSU had to hope MC would miss some free throws down the stretch. The Choctaws would go one for two, and Rucker was quick to score one inside on the other end to make it a two-point game yet again with 24 ticks left.
Valdosta State quickly fouled to send Mississippi College to the line in hopes of some misses. MC missed both free throws and Valdosta State had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead. A turnover doomed the Blazers as they could never get a shot off, falling to Mississippi College, 83-79.