Dawgs earn Longest win Streak under Mike White with a win over Mount St. Mary's

Athens, GA – In the first all-time meeting between the two teams UGA and Mount St. Mary’s battled it over 40 minutes that ended with a 94-82 win for the Dawgs. The win brings the Dawgs to 8-3 and the Mountaineers to 4-7. This game marks the sixth win in a row for the Dawgs and keeps their home game record undefeated. 

Mount St. Mary’s struck first in the second minute with a layup made by Jedy Cordilia. This was the start of a 14-5 run for the Mountaineers which ended with 11:38 left in the period. UGA was able to respond with a 13-4 point run to take the lead 18-17 sparked by a dunk from Frank Anselem-Ibe assisted by Justin Hill. After the score was fies, UGA went on another run outscoring Mount St. Mary’s 13 to 6 leaving the score at 33-26 UGA with 4:02 left. UGA was able to close out the first period strong ending in the lead with a score of 45 to 34. 

Senior guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim had a fantastic first half for the Dawgs going 10 for 10 from in line, 4 for 6 on field goals, and 3 for 4 on three-pointers. This equals his career high for a full game of 21 points. As for the Mountaineers, they had five different scorers in the first period but a majority of the points came from senior guard Dakota Leffew with 15 points. 

The second period was matched pretty evenly matched between the Dawgs and Mountaineers with no major scoring runs or momentum swings. While the Dawgs did pull out the win with an ending score of 94-82, they did little to expand upon their lead. Instead, UGA was able to maintain the progress they had made in the first period (UGA scored 49 points while Mount St. Mary’s scored 48). 

The win for the Dawgs can be attributed to the efforts of many players. Senior guard Justin Hill had 8 assists in the game today and while he was less prevalent in the second period, senior guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim had a career-high of 23 points. The Dawgs took advantage of the opportunities they had at the line shooting 81.8% on free throws and outscored the Mountaineers from behind the arch shooting 36.8% on 19 3-point attempts to the Mountaineers 20% on 15 3-point attempts. 

Stars for the Mountaineers tonight were Dakota Leffew who had 26 total points and freshman guard Dallas Hobbs who led the team with 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Mount St. Mary’s did outperform the Dawgs in field goal percentage (55.9% to 51.7%) and on rebounds (30 to 28) but not to an extent that provided them a win tonight. 

Despite the loss, Mount St. Mary’s put out a good performance in the second period which should provide some confidence for their upcoming games. The win tonight is the sixth consecutive win for the Dawgs and is the largest win streak for second-year coach Mike White with the Dawgs. UGA should feel great going into the last game of its five-game hosting streak this Friday (12/20) against North Florida.