Carrollton, GA November 7, 2005 – After splitting a pair of games a week ago, the West Georgia Braves head to the road Tuesday for their final dress rehearsal of the preseason. The Braves travel Tuesday to face Division I Jacksonville State in their last appearance before next weeks season opener.
West Georgia earned plaudits for last weeks solid efforts vs. Division I competition. Wednesday, the Braves pinned a 71-60 defeat on Kennesaw State. Then Saturday, they dropped a decision to Mississippi State, 80-66.
Though West Georgia never led, they did push their Southeastern Conference opponent during Saturdays second half. The scored was tied on three occasions, including a 57-57 deadlock at the 8:57. From there, the Bulldogs went on a 15-1 run to pull away for the win.
Braves interim head coach Mike Cooney was upbeat about his teams effort against the bigger Bulldogs. Im real proud of our guys. Im happy with our team. They fought hard and showed composure. When you play teams with SEC athletes, youre going to see things you just dont see in our conference.
Cooney explained that the numbers game is what eventually caught up with the Braves, In the last nine minutes, we just ran out of players. Mississippi States athleticism, size and speed started to overwhelm us. MSU did a great job of exploiting us during the last 10 minutes. They kept rotating guys (into the game), and we just cant do that.
Guards Sam Richardson and Andrius Petkunas paced West Georgias attack with 20 points each, while Chris Burras added 11. Also, Antonio Shaw had a big night on the boards with 14 rebounds.
Burras and Shaw were the big guns in the win over Kennesaw State, scoring 23 and 17, respectively. Also, Burras pulled 12 rebounds vs. the Owls.
After Tuesdays game, the Braves return to the practice floor to prepare for the November 16th weeks season. UWG welcome Atlantas Carver College to town for a 7:30 tip.