Valdosta State’s men’s basketball team earned the 900th win in the program’s history Tuesday night, defeating Albany State 95-93.

The Blazers built a double-digit lead in the second half, then held off a furious comeback by Albany State in the final minute to earn the milestone victory at the HPER Complex Tuesday evening.

The Blazers (2-2) built a 19-point advantage with 6:49 remaining in the game, then Albany State (0-1) began to whittle away at its deficit. ASU closed to within 13 points over the ensuing two minutes of play, only to have Valdosta State use a 7-2 spurt to rebuild its advantage to 84-66 with 4:12 to play.

Albany State responded by scoring the next seven points of the game and, after a Michael Panaggio free throw for the Blazers, the Rams scored four more to close to within 86-78 with 50 seconds remaining. The Blazer lead reached 10 points on two more occasions the rest of the game, but Jaren Harris hit three three-pointers to continue to cut into the VSU lead. The last Harris three-pointer came at the buzzer to make it a two-point win for the Blazers.

Valdosta State led throughout the first half, and built a 16-point advantage at one point. After ASU scored the first four points of the contest, the Blazers responded with the next 11 to grab the lead, which they held for the rest of the half. The Golden Rams closed to within 13-11 at the 11:23 mark, only to have VSU respond with a 17-1 spurt to build its largest lead at 28-12 with 6:48 remaining in the half.

Albany State once again fought back. The Rams made six three-pointers in the remainder of the half to get to within a single point. However, Tristan Steele hit a falling down three-pointer with three seconds remaining in the half to give VSU a 43-39 halftime advantage.

After a Michael Tippins put-back basket for Albany State opened the second half scoring, Valdosta State scored eight straight points to push its advantage back into double digits. ASU closed to within three points, but the Blazers scored 25 of the next 34 points to build its largest lead of the game at 77-58, setting up the late-game rally by the Golden Rams.

Valdosta State shot 50.8 percent from the floor in the game, including 56 percent in the second half, when it connected on 14-of-25 field goal attempts.

Josh Sparks, who hit 6-of-7 field goals and 10-of-12 free throws off the bench, scored 22 points to lead VSU offensively, while also blocking two shots. Steele and Panaggio both scored 17 points, while Will Alston had 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Harris connected on 7-of-14 three-pointers to finish with a game-high 29 points, while Justin Wilcox, who hit three trifectas, tallied 20 points. Demarcus Blunt added 13 and Andrew Covin 11 for the Golden Rams, who shot 33 of 75 from the field, including 15 of 36 from three-point range.

Valdosta State returns to action on Nov. 30, when it hosts Augusta State in The Complex at 7:30 p.m.