Written by: Adrian Beecher
Athens, GA – The Georgia Bulldogs and Sam Houston State had a back and forth duel throughout most of the game on Friday night at Stegeman Coliseum. However, down the stretch, it was the Dawgs defense coming up huge as they were able to pull away for the 75-64 win.
The Dawgs won the tip, however, they quickly turned it over. Sam Houston’s Kai Mitchell missed a jumper and the Dawgs went to work. Nicholas Claxton put up four quick points, with two shots from the line and a layup to make it 4-0 early for the Dawgs.
Then things started to level out with the Bearkats running with the Dawgs. At the under 16 minute timeout, UGA had a slim 8-7 lead. The Bearkats would tie the game up at 11 with 12:37 left in the first period with a layup from Josh Delaney. However, the Dawgs would strike right back to regain the lead with a triple from William Jackson II.
Sam Houston State tied it right back up with a triple of their own from RJ Smith to knot things back at 14. After another tie at 16, the Bearkats would take their first lead of the game on a triple from Delaney with 10:26 left in the first period, to make it 19-16. Shortly after, another basket from Delaney would push the Bearkats lead to five.
A triple from UGA guard Tyree Crump put an end to the 7-0 run. However a triple the other way would again extend the lead to five. The Dawgs would cut the deficit to just 1 as things remained close throughout the better part of the first half. With 5:12 left in the 1st period, UGA regained the lead at 29-28 with two free throws from Derek Ogbeide.
The Dawgs would pull ahead by 5 at the end of the 1st half. Scoring leaders were William Jackson II for UGA with 7 points. For the Bearkats, it was Cameron Delaney with 13 points.
In the 2nd half, Sam Houston struck first with a jumper Marcus Harris and then a triple from Chad Bowie to tie things up at 38 with 17:42 left in regulation. This would be the start of a back and forth affair for the next 5 minutes as the two squads traded leads 4 times.
Then Sam Houston got hot, going on an 8-0 run, capped off by a layup from Zaquan Matthews to make it 55-50 for the Bearkats. After that, the tide turned for the Dawgs as Claxton hit a jumper and a layup to tie things up at 55. However, they weren’t done, this was just the start of a 9-2 run for the Dawgs, that put them on top 64-57 with only 2:22 left in regulation.
RJ Smith would sink a jumper for the Bearkats to cut the deficit to 5 with 2:02 left in the game. However, this would be as close as it would get as the Dawgs finished the game on an 11-2 to push their lead to 14 points before a final triple from Sam Houston State.
The Dawgs 75-64 win put them at 2-1 on the season as they rebound from their close loss to Temple on the road. Rayshaun Hammons (15) and Claxton led the charge for Georgia with 28 combined points in the Bulldogs win.
A key stats for the Dawgs in the 2nd half was their ability to minimize turnovers with only 4, and just 11 total in the game.
“That’s an every day thing for us in practice with drills and everything like that.” said Hammons, “We just got better at it and it’ll come natural to us now.”
Prior to Friday night, the Bulldogs averaged 21.5 turnovers in their first two games of the season. They will look to keep improving on this as the season goes on.
UGA now heads on the road to the Cayman Islands to battle for a title in the 2nd annual Cayman Island Classic, where they start off against Illinois St. on November 19th.
