First Half
Union vs West Georgia was a dogfight that ended in thrilling fashion, but it didn’t start that way. The Union Bulldogs hit first, building a double digit lead in the first half and maintaining that lead for a good portion of the half keeping the Wolves at arms length. Tyree Boykin keyed in the Bulldogs good start, as he lit up the nets finishing the first half with five made 3 pointers and a very efficient 23 points on 10 shots. By the end of the half the Bulldogs had seized control and held a 49-32 lead. Kadeim Jones showed a unique ability to draw fouls and manufacture points from the foul line going 6-6 in the half. Michael Zabetakis also made solid contributions in the half with 6 points and 5 rebounds. The biggest difference in the 1st was the Bulldogs scorching from downtown, shooting an astonishing 10-14 from 3 ball line.
2nd Half
The 2nd half was a bit of a different story. The Wolves roared back into the game, led by Kadeim
Jones (who finished with a season-high 25 points) and Keyshawn Heard(who finished with 18 points).
A combination of the Wolves heating up and the Bulldogs cooling down from the field enabled the
Wolves to get the lead down to 5 points with 3:43 remaining, setting up the fantastic… yet controversial
finish that occurred. The final 2 minutes brought the entire crowd at The Coliseum to their feet, as they
watched both teams convert huge bucket after huge bucket in crunch time. Keyshawn
Heard connected on a huge 3 to tie the game at 75, followed by back-to-back pull-up jumpers
from Tyree Boykin and Oronte Anderson. These events brought the game to a tie score of 77 all. On
the ensuing possesion, the Bulldogs put the ball into the hands of their hottest player Tyree Boykin and
he delivered by getting to his spot and burying a clutch mid range jumper. The following possession
ended with Oronte Anderson making the shot of the night, or at least what maybe should have been,
he sunk a 3 pointer to put the Wolves up 80-79 with less than 15 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs
would have one last chance to win the game, every fan in the building standing. The Bulldogs came
down and got a shot up that missed, the buzzer sounded, most of the West Georgia fans thinking that
the win was sealed. The whole building including me was shocked to discovery that the ref had whistled
a foul on the rebound, which put LiDonta Hicks-Gentry on the line with a chance to win the game with
0.8 seconds on the clock. To Hicks-Gentry’s credit, he calmly sank both free throws and Union ended
up winning the game 81-80. Tyree Boykin had an explosive scoring game finishing 33 points shooting
over 50% from the field.
