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UWG’s hopes of making a Cinderella run in the Gulf South Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament were quickly halted Friday evening, as the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys soundly defeated the Wolves 79-60 in Southaven, MS.
West Georgia fought hard the entire game, but the precision of Arkansas Tech’s motion offense proved to be more than then the Wolves defense could handle. The Wonder Boys led the entire game, shooting a staggering 50 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range.
“I couldn’t have asked for any more of our guys tonight,” said UWG head coach Michael Cooney. “Our effort was outstanding. We matched their intensity and made them work for this win.”
West Georgia entered the GSC tournament as a decisive underdog. The Wolves ended the season with an overall record of 13-14, and clinched the fourth seed in the Eastern Division with a 3-7 record in conference play.
As the tournament’s lowest overall seed, West Georgia had the toughest opening round opponent in Arkansas Tech. The Wonder Boys ended the regular season ranked number two nationally with a record of 26-1. Arkansas Tech went 9-1 in conference play, claiming the number one overall seed and title of tournament favorite.
West Georgia came out flat and Arkansas Tech took full advantage, scoring the first 10 points of the game. UWG freshman center Brett Seljak scored the Wolves’ first basket at the 15:21 mark, but the Wonder Boys extended their lead to 22-4.
After being dominated for the first 10 minutes of the game, West Georgia’s offense came to life with three straight three-pointers from junior guard Vojin Svilar. The Wolves’ outside shooting opened up the floor for some easy points in the paint.
West Georgia started really clicking offensively and a three-point jumper from junior guard Justin Cummings shrunk the lead to 33-25 with 4:40 remaining in the opening period. Eight points is as close as the Wolves would get as the Wonder Boys closed out the half with two clutch three-point shots from senior guard Brandon Friedel and a 42-27 lead.
The Wolves would not go down without a fight and shot out of the break to score the first seven points of the second half, shrinking ATU’s lead to eight at 42-34 with 17:37 remaining. West Georgia would fight to stay within striking distance of Arkansas Tech. After another three-pointer from Svilar, the Wolves were still only down eight points at 52-44 with 12:32 remaining in the game.
Sensing the momentum was slipping away, ATU senior guard Marcus Pillow scored eight of the Wonder Boys’ next 14 points, stretching their lead to 66-46 with 8:33 remaining. West Georgia suffered an eight-minute stretch in which they couldn’t score a single basket. Even down by 20 points, the Wolves never quit. They outscored Arkansas Tech 16-13 in the final seven minutes of the game, but the deficit proved too much to overcome. West Georgia’s season would come to an end losing 79-60.
The Wolves stayed in the game by out-rebounding the Wonder Boys 41-37 and shooting 44 percent from three-point range.
The loss marked the final game in which senior forwards John Pringle and Jeremy Smith would lace up their sneakers for West Georgia. Pringle earned his tenth career double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Svilar was the Wolves’ leading scorer with 18 points, including five three-pointers. Freshman guard Ryan Godfrey added 12 points in the loss, scoring all of them in the second half while Svilar was sidelined due to foul trouble.
“I think that we can look back at this season with our heads held high,” said Cooney. “We would have liked to have found a way to pull out two close games to finish with a winning record, but we played a very tough schedule that included three of the top six teams in the country.”
Cooney and his staff will get little rest after the loss, as they will head out on to the recruiting trail. He feels good about the players returning, but knows that West Georgia will have some specific needs to fill with the loss of Pringle and Smith.
“We have got to get the right guys for our program,” said Cooney. “We have a really good group of guys coming back. We really need to find another inside presence that can score in the post. We also need another perimeter shooter that can get hot like Arkansas Tech did tonight.”
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