Shane Thomas |The Valdosta Daily TimesValdosta State forward Madi Mitchell (15) shoots a layup while being defended by West Georgia’s Chloe Branch (23) during the second half of a first-round Gulf South Conference Tournament game on Tuesday at The Complex.

VALDOSTA –– Winston Morgan scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half as the Valdosta State Blazers (26-3) never trailed en route to a 106-90 win against West Georgia (14-14) on Tuesday.

The No. 1 seed Blazers advanced to the second round behind Morgan’s aggressiveness. The junior from Manchester, Conn. shot 8-of-18 from the floor––including 7-of-13 from beyond the arc.

Morgan broke J.J. Taylor’s 28-year-old record for 3s made in a season, setting a new mark of 100 as the Blazers finished 17-of-40 from long range.

“The last few games I hadn’t been playing up to my best,” Morgan said. “I definitely wanted to come out––it’s tournament time so it’s time to step up. It’s a whole new season and I wanted to start it off right.”

According to Blazers coach Mike Helfer, letting his point guard play his game instead of trying to rein him in played a role in what was Morgan’s highest scoring game since Jan. 9.

“I just told him, ‘Look, just be yourself and have fun,’” Helfer said. “I felt like he was questioning some of his decision-making. I had been on him pretty hard and I said, ‘Just play. You’re my guy at the point guard––just play and enjoy yourself and play as hard as you can’ and that’s what he did.”

Six Blazers scored in double figures as newly-crowned GSC Player of the Year Beau Justice had 19 points and nine rebounds. Jimmy Kodet also scored 19, going 6-of-9 from the floor and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc along with five rebounds and two blocks.

Greg Zuppas added 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Clay Guillozet had 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. KJ James, who was named Second Team All-GSC on Tuesday, added 13 points and five rebounds as the Blazers shot 51.3 percent from the floor.

After yielding 14 offensive rebounds in a loss to West Florida last week, the Blazers grabbed 14 off their own and outrebounded the Wolves 47-35 on Tuesday. Helfer praised his team for its hustle, as evidenced by James diving over West Georgia coach Michael Cooney on the Wolves’ bench to save a ball just 3 minutes into the game.

“In tournament basketball, rebounding is critical,” Helfer said. “Hustle plays, loose balls (as well) because you’re trying to save possessions. Tonight, we got away from (West Georgia) so the

possessions weren’t as critical but when KJ is diving over the bench to save a ball…we had four guys dive on the floor after a ball in the first half. That just shows that your team wants it.

“It’s going to be hard moving forward––you’ve got to execute and you’ve got to do a lot of things right but at least the desire is there that I was hoping to see.”

The Blazers started aggressively from the floor and saw efficient results as they led the Wolves 65-46 at halftime. By halftime, the Blazers shot 55 percent from the floor and nailed 14-of-27 triples.

A 3 by senior Labrian Shiflet gave the Blazers their largest lead at 26 points with 5:29 left in the half.

Paul Turner led the Wolves with 22 points, six rebounds and three assists. Marquill Smith added 19 points and nine rebounds as the Wolves were eliminated from the postseason.

ROUND 2: The top-seeded Blazers move on to face the No. 5 seed Delta State Statesmen on Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. No. 2 seed West Florida defeated Montevallo 83-74 to advance to play No. 3 seed Christian Brothers, who knocked off No. 6 seed North Alabama 96-76 to set up the semifinals.

West Florida 68

VSU women 49

The VSU women simply couldn’t find the range as they fell to West Florida 68-49 on Tuesday, eliminating them from the GSC Tournament.

Despite their fair share of open looks, the Blazers missed 17 of their 21 3-point attempts en route to 28.6 percent from the floor while the Argos scorched to the tune of 46.7 percent for the game.

Blazers coach Carley Kuhns summed up the loss as ‘frustrating’ as her team battled defensively but couldn’t make enough shots to make headway.

“I do think (West Florida) had a really good defensive game plan but I don’t think it was very different than what they did the other night,” Kuhns said. “I think we allowed our offensive production to dictate the entire game and it hurts us defensively, too.

“We would go on stretches where we’d get stops, we just couldn’t score and then we’d start to chip away and chip away then they’d come down and hit a big 3. They hit big shots when they needed to and any time we kind of went on a run, they hit a big shot. They played really, really well––credit to them, they came to play and I don’t think the ball really bounced our way tonight.”

Following a missed jumper by Madi Mitchell, the Argos took their largest lead of 22 points on a deep, desperation 3 by Shami Goodman that banked in with 4:18 left. After having so many open shots clang off the rim, Kuhns admits it was a bit demoralizing to see the Argos make so many tough shots in key stretches.

“They hit tough shots and we missed shots that we typically make,” Kuhns said. “They had some kids who hadn’t made 3s all season making 3s and the kids that typically hit shots for us…I mean, we go 4-of-21 from the 3-point line and that’s what basketball’s about. You’re going to have to score to win games and it was demoralizing. I thought we had our effort, I thought our kids played really, really hard––they were diving on the floor, they never quit….we just didn’t have it tonight.”

Halee Nieman scored a game-high 21 points off the bench in addition to grabbing eight rebounds and dishing six assists for the Argos. Goodman had 14 points while Chloe Branch chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds.

The Blazers shot just 7-of-26 in the first half as the Argos led 36-24 at intermission. Taylor Buie had 10 points to lead the Blazers, All-GSC First Team member Madi Mitchell shot just 2-of-11 on Tuesday, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds. Kenya Samone’ Dixon, who was named to the All-GSC Second Team, also had nine points but shot 2-of-12 from the floor including 1-of-8 from beyond the arc.

After being eliminated from the conference tournament, the defending GSC champion Blazers now must wait to see if they’ve done enough to make the NCAA Tournament in the South Regional. According to Kuhns, not knowing is the hardest part after losing in the GSC Tournament.

“It’s kind of a weird spot because you really don’t want to say your goodbyes or that end-of-the-year speech because there’s still a chance that we’re playing,” Kuhns said. “That’s the tough thing––what you say to them right now is kind of in limbo. The adversity that we faced this year, what this team has gone through and come through has been unbelievable with what we’ve done and I couldn’t be more proud of how they came together.

“Our chemistry the past 15 games has been unbelievable. You go undefeated in the regular season at home, we won big games and I thought really were led by our three seniors. I hope to God it’s not their last game because you don’t want them to go out like that because they deserve better. My wish for them is that it’s not their last game because I don’t want it to be the last time I coach them.”