VALDOSTA — The good times continue to roll at The Complex for the Valdosta State men’s basketball team.
The Blazers, No. 7 in the NABC poll (National Association of Basketball Coaches), used offense in the first half and defense in the second half to improve to 3-0 with a 87-55 win over the Florida Memorial Lions on Saturday night in front of another big home crowd.
The Blazers continued their hot shooting by jumping out to a 12-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game behind two 3-pointer by Ryan Nelson and two old fashion 3-point plays by Tyrone Curnell.
The Blazers continued to score, taking a 54-32 lead into halftime.
VSU shot 64 percent in the first half, their second consecutive half shooting at least 60 percent. The Blazers shot 69 percent in the second half on Friday night against St. Thomas.
“I thought it came a little to easy for us the first five minutes,” Blazers head coach Mike Helfer said. “I think we lost a little respect for them and kind of got sloppy from the 13 to eight minute mark. They made some good plays, and they have a good team. But I liked our mentality out of the gate, and again, the crowd helped so much. The crowd was awesome.”
Curnell led the Blazers in the first half with 21 points, hitting 7-of-8 field goals and both of his 3-point attempts. The All-American finished with 22 points after seeing limited time in the second half.
With the Blazers leading big for the third game in a row, Helfer put different combinations on the floor, which led to a struggle on offense in the second half. The Blazers only shot 40 percent in the second half and made just two 3-pointers after going 10-for-11 from beyond the arc in the second half on Friday night.
“We played some different combinations to get guys minutes on the floor, and those combination, we weren’t really used to having guys in certain spots and positions,” Helfer said. “I think that hurt our flow a little bit.”
However, the Blazers’ defensive effort didn’t suffer. VSU held Florida Memorial to just one field goal in the first 6:19 of the second half. The Lions only had five points in the second half at the 8:11 mark and shot just 20.6 percent in the second half.
“Well, we held them to 20 percent shooting in the second half and they only had five points in the first 10 minutes, so I was pleased with the way we came out of the locker room and took complete control,” Helfer said. “I think that showed our maturity with a lot of seniors who understand they’ve been in this position before.”
The night was summed up when Ryan Nelson came from behind to block a layup midway through the second half. He then grabbed the rebound and pushed it down the court, finding Christian Hunter who nailed an open three. The sequence brought life to the crowd of 1,566 that didn’t have much to cheer about in the second half.
One reason for the slow offense from the Blazers in the second half was the absence of All-Gulf South Conference point guard Ricardo Lewis, who hurt his ankle late in the first half and never returned.
After the game Lewis was walking around with barely a limp. Helfer said he sprained his ankle three weeks ago in practice and held him out as a precaution.
“He could have played the second half, but I just chose not to play him,” Helfer said.
Nelson was the only Blazer besides Curnell to finish in double figures. He scored 13 points.
Christian Hunter scored nine points, Tristan Crawford scored eight points and Billy McShepard scored six points.
Marquis Robinson and Lewis added seven points each.
The Blazers return to the court on Tuesday at Fort Valley State in a South Region game.
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