JACKSON, Tenn. – The Valdosta State men’s basketball team defeated Union on the road late Saturday afternoon in a narrow 103-102 overtime victory.

With the win, the Blazers improved to 16-9 overall and 12-7 in Gulf South Conference play, while Union fell to 12-10 overall and 11-7 in league play.

Senior Jacolbey Owens led the team with his third double-double of the season, including a team high 23 points and game high 10 assists. Owens’ 23 points tied his season high and his seven rebounds marked his season high. Along with Owens, four other Blazers were in double-digit scoring including sophomore Caden Boser who added 18 points as well as junior Jay Rucker who chipped in 17. Senior Mohamed Fofana tallied 13 and redshirt senior Cam Hamilton tacked on 12.

The Blazers shot 40 of 77 for 51.9 percent from the field while going 9 of 31 from deep (29%). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs shot a similar 51. 5 percent on 34 of 66 from the field while converting 10 of 24 from distance for 41. 7 percent.

The Bulldogs were led by three players in double digit scoring with Tylandrius Parks having a game-high 33 points on 10 of 18 shooting from the field, 1 of 5 from beyond the arc and 12 of 14 on trips to the charity stripe. Boe Nguidjol added 23 points of his own while also having 17 rebounds to lead his team in the rebounding column. Jalen Johnson also chipped in 18 on 4 of 12 shooting from the field, 3 of 8 from deep and 7 of 9 from the free throw line.

The game began with a quick layup from Rucker to kick the scoring off in what would be a high-scoring affair. Union answered right back with a triple from Justin Debuck to put the Bulldogs up early, 3-2 with 18:31 remaining in what would be the first of 20 lead changes in the game.

From there, the Blazers and Bulldogs traded buckets back and forth with either team willing to budge as the highest lead for both teams would only be four points in the first until the 2:32 mark.

At that point in the game, VSU was able to take a five-point lead after a fastbreak layup from junior Cam Selders put the Blazers up 51-46 with 2:25 remaining in the half. Following a Union dunk, Owens put up a shot from downtown to give the Blazers a six-point lead, 54-48 with 1:32 remaining in the half. Union converted two free throws to cut the lead to four but was short lived after a hoop and harm layup from Selders put the Blazers up seven, 57-50 with 1:10 left to go in the period. The half ended with Debuck hitting a triple to make the contest a four-point affair at half as Valdosta State led 57-53.

The second half looked to be a carbon copy of the first as Union and Valdosta State traded buckets for the first couple of minutes of the half with VSU out in front 61-55 with 18:51 remaining in regulation.

The Bulldogs then mustered up a 7-0 run to take the lead back 62-61 with 16:45 left to play. Within the next couple of minutes, Union would build a seven-point lead of their own to go up 69-62 with 15:24 remaining. Just like Union before them, VSU would go on a 7-0 run of its own to tie the game at 69 with 13:22 left to go. The trend of narrow lead changes continued until the 5:39 mark of the second half when a Hamilton layup gave Valdosta State a five-point 87-82 lead, its highest since the beginning of the half when the Blazers led by seven. The Blazers led by four, 93-89, with 2:06 remaining in the half when a pair of free throws and a last second layup from Parks sent the game into overtime.

In overtime, Union and VSU remained at a stalemate until Union started to pull away, 100-95, following a jumper from Nguidjol with 2:23 remaining in the extra session. Owens then took the game over, scoring a layup and three-point jumper to tie the game back at 100 with 56 seconds left to play. Parks put up a layup of his own to go up by two with 34 seconds remaining. From there, Owens drove to the hoop once again to score a layup to tie the game 102-102 with 11 seconds left on the clock but was fouled to give him the and-one. With the game on the line, Owens sunk his free throw and Parks missed the game-winning layup on a block by Fofana which Hamilton rebounded.

The game looked to be over, but officials called a turnover on Hamilton after the rebound with one second on the clock.

With one tick remaining, the Bulldogs inbounded the ball for a final three-point attempt which was blocked by Owens after time expired. The Blazers ended up escaping Union with a hard fought 103-102 to split the season series.

The Blazers will return home for action Saturday when they take on GSC rival West Florida at 4 p.m.