CLEVLAND, Miss. – Sophomore guard Devin Schmidt tallied 19 points to hoist the Delta State University Statesmen over West Alabama, 73-66, on Saturday at Walter Sillers Coliseum. DSU improves to 4-4 on the season and 1-1 in Gulf South Conference play.
 
The contest began with five ties over the first 10 minutes of play, but a clutch 3-pointer from Jake Maestranzi gave the Statesmen their first lead of the night at the 15:29 mark, 11-9.
 
West Alabama went on a 15-8 run to earn the narrow lead, 21-15, with 8:22 to go, but the momentum soon shifted directions in favor of the Statesmen.
 
Down by four with 6:26 to go in the half, Jack Madgen found Jamal Hester wide open under the basket who laid one in to put DSU within two, 23-21.
 
A pair of free throws from LaQuavius Cotton tied the game for ninth time, 31-31, with 1:06 remaining in the first half.
 
The half closed with a steal by Zelvin Smith Jr. with three seconds on the clock. Smith dished the ball off to Madgen behind the arc, draining the wide-open three to give Delta State the lead, 36-33, to head into the locker room.
 
At the half, scoring was distributed among nine Statesmen. DSU owned the advantage in shooting, going 11-of-19 from the field, including 3-of-6 from downtown.
 
The matchup featured 10 ties before the Statesmen came away the lead and never looked back.
 
Delta State extended its lead over West Alabama with back-to-back buckets from Madgen to start the second half.
 
The Tigers made it interesting using two consecutive three-pointers from Charles Eaton, cutting the deficit to five with less than ten minutes to play, 56-51.
 
With UWA nipping at their heels and reaching within one point, Cotton drained a three from the corner to expand the DSU lead to 65-61 at the 3:16 mark.
 
West Alabama continued to make strides, but the momentum and lead stayed in Delta State's possession until the final buzzer for the Statesmen to earn the victory, 73-66.
 
DSU earned its largest lead of the night at 11 on a Cotton dunk, notching the score at 56-45. With the win, the Statesmen snapped West Alabama's five-game win streak.
 
As a team, Delta State shot 52.2 percent from the field (24-of-46), 40 percent from beyond the arc (6-of-15), and 79.2 percent from the line (19-of-24). Madgen continues his streak of scoring in double figures each game with 13 points on 4-of-8 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
 
Up next for the Greeen-and-White is a road trip to Memphis, Tenn. The Statesmen will take on No. 24 Christian Brothers University on Thursday, Dec. 11 at 7:00 p.m.