TUPELO, Miss. — It came down to who made plays.

West Georgia made the plays, Arkansas-Monticello didn’t. The Braves took a 70-66 overtime victory and move on to the GSC semifinals Saturday.

“The difference is their players made shots and ours didn’t,” UAM coach Mike Newell said. “That’s about as simple as you can put it.”

After three and a half minutes of trading baskets toward the end of the game, regulation ended with the score knotted at 63.

The score got stuck at 65 for most of the overtime period, before Ryan Madry broke the tie for West Georgia with a 3-pointer to make it 68-65.

Madry said he was telling guard Majestic Mapp to give him the ball because he knew he could hit the shot. Mapp did and Madry did.

Mapp said he passed Madry the ball because Madry told him to.

“If he says ‘give me the ball, I’ll make it,’ I’m gonna give it to him,” Mapp said.

West Georgia coach Ed Murphy seemed pleased with that exchange.

“Well that was a poor job coaching on my behalf,” he said. “I’ve got to figure out some way to take credit for that, because I didn’t know a damn thing about it.”

On the next posession West Georgia’s Darnell Miller fouled out when he pushed UAM’s Jonathan Holland. Holland cut the West Georgia lead to two when he connected on 1-of-2 free throws.

SUWG grabbed the rebound with the shot clock turned off and ran the clock. UAM called a timeout and finally with eight ticks left on the clock fouled to stop the clock.

Mapp nailed his two free throws to put the game to bed.

Holland led the Boll Weevils with 22 points and 15 rebounds. Newell said it was the first time all year the officials had let Holland play.

“Thank God they let him play tonight,” Newell said. “Usually teams will get to flopping. They must of not had any men in our division. They just had a bunch of girls playing in that other (West) division.”

The Boll Weevils surprised the Braves with a zone defense. Murphy said in all the tapes he had seen on UAM they played man.

“That zone worked against us,” he said. “Usually we hurt teams that try to zone us, but they did a good job.”

SUWG shot only 34.4 percent for the game.

Madry finished with 27 points to lead the Braves, Mapp had 19.

Nate Newell finished with 16 for UAM. Billy McDaniel had 12 and 17 boards.

West Georgia will play the West No. 1, Delta State, at 5:30 tomorrow.





		West Georgia squeaks one out over UAM in OT

		TUPELO, Miss. — It came down to who made plays. West Georgia made the plays, Arkansas-Monticello didn’t. The Braves took a 70-66 overtime victory and move on to the GSC semifinals Saturday. “The difference is their players made shots and ours didn’t,” UAM coach Mike Newell said. “That’s about as simple as you can put it.” After three and a half minutes of trading baskets toward the end of the game, regulation ended with the score knotted at 63. The score got stuck at 65 for most of the overtime period, before Ryan Madry broke the tie for West Georgia with a 3-pointer to make it 68-65. Madry said he was telling guard Majestic Mapp to give him the ball because he knew he could hit the shot. Mapp did and Madry did. Mapp said he passed Madry the ball because Madry told him to. “If he says ‘give me the ball, I’ll make it,’ I’m gonna give it to him,” Mapp said. West Georgia coach Ed Murphy seemed pleased with that exchange. “Well that was a poor job coaching on my behalf,” he said. “I’ve got to figure out some way to take credit for that, because I didn’t know a damn thing about it.” On the next posession West Georgia’s Darnell Miller fouled out when he pushed UAM’s Jonathan Holland. Holland cut the West Georgia lead to two when he connected on 1-of-2 free throws. SUWG grabbed the rebound with the shot clock turned off and ran the clock. UAM called a timeout and finally with eight ticks left on the clock fouled to stop the clock. Mapp nailed his two free throws to put the game to bed. Holland led the Boll Weevils with 22 points and 15 rebounds. Newell said it was the first time all year the officials had let Holland play. “Thank God they let him play tonight,” Newell said. “Usually teams will get to flopping. They must of not had any men in our division. They just had a bunch of girls playing in that other (West) division.” The Boll Weevils surprised the Braves with a zone defense. Murphy said in all the tapes he had seen on UAM they played man. “That zone worked against us,” he said. “Usually we hurt teams that try to zone us, but they did a good job.” SUWG shot only 34.4 percent for the game. Madry finished with 27 points to lead the Braves, Mapp had 19. Nate Newell finished with 16 for UAM. Billy McDaniel had 12 and 17 boards. West Georgia will play the West No. 1, Delta State, at 5:30 tomorrow.