The Wolves (4-5) erased a six-point halftime deficit to tie things up at 50-all after regulation and 56-all following the first overtime, where the Falcons (7-3) had chances at the buzzer in both situations.
Ultimately, it was a little too much size and too much depth, as the Falcons were just able outlast UWG when Quincy Hill couldn’t connect on a 3-pointer to tie as time ran out.
“We just had a difficult time scoring the ball. This is the first time playing at home that we didn’t have offensive pop and energy in the first half. I’ve got to blame the loss against Paine having us doubt ourselves a little bit. We had to work through that. We were only in the game the second half because of our defense. We could have been down 16 to 20 points. That we were down six points, you have to give your defense credit for that,” UWG coach Michael Cooney said.
Regardless of the result, the UWG coach was pleased with his team’s effort coming off a poor showing Saturday and with a break coming up.
“We didn’t lose because of lack of effort, but we do have to get better. We have to get better offensively, and that’s the hard part. Taylor [Cochran] is a sophomore, Sean Boston is a JUCO player that just got here. Brett [Seljak] and Quincy [Hill] are the only two guys that really are returning with minutes, along with Thomas [Higginbotham],” Cooney said.
West Georgia opened the second half on a 6-0 run with Hill and Higginbotham scoring three points each to pull even at 26-all. From there, it was a back-and-forth affair, with the Wolves taking their first lead of the game at the 13:30 mark as Cochran’s 3-pointer put UWG up 31-28.
The Wolves went 1-of-2 in a pair of late trips to the free-throw line to tie the game, but ultimately it was free-throw shooting that doomed UWG. For the game, it went just 18-of-32 from the charity stripe with situations in regulation and both overtimes to win the game at the line.
“Offensively right now, we just don’t have Lavon Gray inside, we don’t have Da’Ron Sims. The closest thing we have is Sean Boston, who’s a wing. We’re trying to manufacture baskets going to the rim and you’ve got to continually attack the basket. When you do that, you’re going to get fouled and you’ve got to make your free throws. [Tuesday] we didn’t make them,” Cooney said.
Boston had the big game for the Wolves with 14 points and 15 rebounds for the double-double, while Quincy Hill led the team with 16 points and Cochran added 12.
West Georgia will be off for almost two weeks before returning to the court in a road game against Columbus State on Dec. 30. For this team, a break could be just what the players need.
“We’ve been going pretty hard. There haven’t been any fish on the schedule. They’ve all been Division II regional games. [St. Augustine’s] is a CIAA team, then conference games. The best thing we can do for our guys is give them a week off, let them be home with their families, rest up, get in the hot tub and feel better about themselves. Then we have to come back and get back to work,” Cooney said.
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