VSU’s Mike Holloway shoots the ball mid-air over a Florida Memorial defender during VSU’s 89-71 victory over the Lions on Friday night in Valdosta.

The Valdosta State Blazers men’s basketball team got back on the winning track Friday night, downing the Florida Memorial Lions 89-71.

The game marked the Blazers’ last game until Dec. 31, when they visit Fort Valley State. Despite Friday night’s victory, head coach Mike Helfer said he still doesn’t believe his team has found its identity.

“We are just trying to find our identity,” Helfer said. “I still don’t think we have found it. I think we played really hard in the second half last night and I thought we played really hard last night. If our identity just becomes playing hard then I will be happy about that, but we have a lot of work to do and we have some time to do it. But this break might be good for us.”

Valdosta State never trailed Friday night, building a double-digit lead before halftime, and maintaining it throughout the second half, building it to as many as 21 points.

“I think in order to close teams out, like tonight, you have to be good at the defensive end,” Helfer said. “We got some stops when we needed to, and we made some big shots. But really, it is about playing some defense to close teams out at the end.”

Led by Chris Rozier, who recorded a game-high 20 points, the Blazers (5-4) saw four players score in double figures on the night. Michael Panaggio had 17 points in the win, while Sidney Harris added 13 points off the bench. Will Alston had 17 points and a team-high 14 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.

“I thought (Will) played really well,” Helfer said. “We have been looking for that from Will. He is very capable of doing just that and I thought he was much more composed tonight.”

The Blazers were considerably better from the free throw line Friday night, after they struggled from the charity stripe in Thursday night’s loss to Shaw University. Valdosta State finished Friday’s contest 20 of 28 from the line, and 13 of 16 in the first half, which helped the Blazers build a 16-point opening half lead.

“I don’t think we are a bad free throw shooting team,” Helfer said. “I just think we struggle through some stretches. We are capable of making a bunch of them and shooting at a very high percentage.”

Despite a hot shooting start by the Lions (4-7), who started the game 8 of 12 from the floor, the Blazers were able to capitalize on six early points from Panaggio to build a seven-point lead.

After Florida Memorial managed to close the VSU lead to just two points, 19-17, with 11:31 to play in the first half, the Blazers put together an impressive 21-9 run right before the half, giving them a 40-26 advantage.

The Lions finished the game 26 of 63 from the floor, while Valdosta State shot 55 percent (33-60) from the field.

Junior Drew Maynard, who started all eight games on the season for VSU, averaging 11.1 points per contest along the way, was not in uniform Friday night. Maynard was seen on the bench in a dress shirt and tie. Following the victory, Helfer gave little insight as to why Maynard missed Friday night’s contest, calling it a coach’s decision.