LIVINGSTON, Alabama - Cedric Harper had a career-high night with 22 points as he led the Delta State University men's basketball team past the University of West Alabama 72-67 on Thursday night at Pruitt Hall.
 
Inside the Matchup:
    Score: Delta State 72 | West Alabama 67
    Records: Statesmen (21-6, 16-5 GSC) | Tigers (10-17, 5-16 GSC)
    Series: DSU leads series 43-27
    Location: Pruitt Hall | Livingston, Alabama

How It Happened:

• Delta State jumped out to an early 10-point lead with buckets from Devin Schmidt, James Kilpatrick and Cedric Harper.
• The Statesmen defense held West Alabama scoreless for over five and a half minutes until Johnny Stallworth hit a three-pointer at the 14:24 mark.
• Brett Warner answered with a three-pointer of his own and then a Harper dunk led the Statesmen back to a double-digit lead.
• After two Marcel Moorer free throws and a Jahmal Lane layup to narrow the Statesmen lead to eight points.
• Late in the first half, both sides were back-and-forth with the Statesmen leading 26-16 with 5:54 to go.
• Sean Cranney hit a jumper along with two Gavin Robinson free throws to close the gap to six points.
• At the 1:30 mark, Lane sparked a 6-2 Tigers run, but the Statesmen maintained a 34-28 lead at halftime.
• Delta State shot 13-of-32 (40.6 percent) from the floor in the first half, including 7-for-12 (57.1 percent) from the charity stripe. The Statesmen only hit one of their seven attempts from distance. Harper led the Statesmen with 14 points, including shooting 6-of-7 from the floor and four rebounds. Henry tallied seven points, Schmidt and Kilpatrick tallied four points each and Taylor and Warner rounded it out with five points combined.
• West Alabama went 7-of-20 (35 percent) from the field, including 13-for-16 (81.3 percent) from the free throw line. The Tigers went only 1-for-7 from beyond the arc. Sean Cranney led the way with 10 points and one rebound for the half. Johnny Stallworth chipped in eight points and one rebound.
• The Statesmen opened the second half on a 13-4 run to grab a 47-32 lead.
• Gavin Robinson answered with a layup and sparked a 12-3 run to narrow the Statesmen lead to single digits (eight points) with less than eight minutes to go.
• Ravion Henry brought it back to a double-digit game after a jumper and two Cornish free throws made it a 12-point game.
• The Tigers had an answer, however, scoring eight straight points and closed the gap to four points with 5:32 to go.
• In the final five minutes, the Tigers battled back on a 10-9 run to make it a one possession game until an alley-oop from Schmidt to Henry to lay it up and push it to a five point game.
• With 11 seconds left, Cranney banked a deep three-pointer at the top of the key to keep the Tigers alive, but a Schmdit free throw sealed the deal as the Statesmen claimed the 72-67 victory.
• Delta State shot 26-for-54 for the game (48.1 percent), including going 18-of-30 (60 percent) from the charity stripe. DSU went 2-of-14 (14.3 percent) from distance for the game. West Alabama was 23-of-52 (44.2 percent) from the field and only 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from three point range, while going 18-of-23 at the free throw line. 
• Harper had a career-high night leading the way for Delta State with 22 points, while Henry added 20 points and three rebounds. Schmidt added 14 points, four rebounds and six assists for the Statesmen.
• West Alabama was led by Gavin Robinson, who had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Sean Cranney added 17 points, Jahmal Lane had 15 and Johnny Stallworth tallied 11 points for the Tigers. 

Notables:            

• Devin Schmidt needs 88 points to become the GSC all-time scoring leader.
• Delta State forced eight West Alabama turnovers and scored 13 points off those turnovers.
• The Statesmen scored 35 points off the bench, while West Alabama only had 15 points.
• Delta State extended its win streak to nine games.

 
Who's Next:

• The Green-and-White wrap up the regular season at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Ga., on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. CT