Men’s basketball dominates Georgia State

 The Flames dominating 78-52 victory over the Georgia State Panthers on Saturday night showcased the Flames talent in front of almost 3,000 fans. 

Not only was the men’s team decked out in the 1971 throwback jerseys, but they also used the press defense Georgia State and the Flames held a lead on the Panthers most of the game. The energy of the fans helped set the tone of this intense game, 

“This is a very good team, and we knew that last year and we knew that coming in this year,” Caleb Homesley said. “But once they started struggling, we saw that, and we kept pressing. We just wanted to play the way that we wanted to play.”

With this the Flames did not look back and continued their lead against the Panthers. 

Homesley scored 19 points for the Flames, with multiple slam-dunks that thrilled the crowd. 

Sophomore Elijah Cuffee used this game as a showcase of just how good he could be. 

Cuffee scored 19 points, 6 field goals made, 5 three-pointers and even had 5 assists, helping him tally career-high numbers.

 A trio of 3-pointers from the Highlanders late in the first half put them up 30- 25, but a score at the buzzer from Pacheco-Ortiz cut the Radford lead down to 34-31 at halftime. 

The Flames tightened up their defense in the second half and held the Highlanders to only 20 points and seven field goals in the final 20 minutes. Dawson said the defensive shift was less of an Xs and Os adjustment and more of change in mindset by each member of the team. 

“Everybody had to make a sacrifice, a personal decision to go in there and hit somebody, and if you don’t, they’re just going to come and take the ball and take the game wherever they wanna go,” Dawson said. 

The win puts the Flames on a four-game win streak and places them in a three-way tie for first place in the Big South Conference with Winthrop and UNC Asheville. 

“I think (what) I’m most pleased with is two things: Number one, our guys care about representing the university, and they’re a part of the mission,” McKay said. “Number two, I think we have a defensive mindset, … and when you get that, you have a chance.” 

The Flames next home game will be on Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. against South Carolina State. 

The Flames will look to continue their early season success as they rapidly approach the meat of their schedule which will peak when they travel to UCLA to play the Bruins Dec. 29. 

The Flames offense has been on fire so far this season, scoring over 75 points in all eight games. 

In three of the first eight games this season, the Flames have scored over 80 points. 

The Flames will need to continue to generate big point games as the season progresses if they expect to be able to compete with their schedule’s toughest competition.