CLEVELAND, Miss. –Delta State University men's basketball welcomed West Georgia to Walter Sillers Coliseum on Thursday night to open conference play. The Wolves edged the Statesmen, 87-84, to remain undefeated, while Delta State dropped to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in league play.
 
An up-tempo contest from the opening tip, the Wolves controlled the pace early on. Starting the game on a 6-0 run on back-to-back 3-pointers from Marcus Dortch, the lead was tilted in favor of West Georgia 15-10 at the 14:09 mark.
 
The Statesmen slowly started closing the gap and showed some life after a PJ Davis dunk and a Jack Madgen bucket from downtown, notching the score at 24-21 with less than 10 minutes to play in the half.
 
Both squads struggled with ball control in the first half, each team committing eight turnovers but scoring 11 points on the other team's mistakes.
 
A highly defensive West Georgia team dominated the full court press for a majority of the game, but Delta State began to figure it out after halftime.
 
The Green-and-White found momentum out of the break by tying the game and leading for the first time all night at the 18:04 mark courtesy of a Devin Schmidt 3-pointer.
 
Over the next two and a half minutes, the Wolves put together a 6-0 run to regain possession of the lead, 57-53, with 13:52 to go in the contest.
 
Senior guard Alister Chisholm answered with two old-fashioned three-point plays over a two-minute stretch, laying in two baskets and capitalizing at the free throw line to tie the game for the seventh time, 65-65.
 
Delta State regained the lead, 68-66, when Schmidt found Chisholm across the court, who drained a wide-open three at the 9:42 mark.
 
West Georgia compiled a decisive 12-3 run in the final minutes, as the Green-and-White dropped the conference opener, 87-84.
 
Chisholm led three Statesmen in double figures with a career-high 26 points, going 8-for-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc, and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. Madgen added a season-high 23 points to extend his streak of scoring double figures in every game. Schmidt tallied 14 points.
 
Although Delta State shot 51.7 percent from the field and 60 percent from downtown, the Wolves held the advantage by shooting 53.1 percent from the field that proved to be the game changer.
 
The Statesmen are back in action on Saturday, Dec. 6 against West Alabama. Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m. at Walter Sillers Coliseum.