ROME, Ga. – They started off the season consistently reeling off four straight wins.

On Saturday, however, the Shorter men's basketball team will be looking to begin the 2016 portion of their schedule seeking to find the consistency they know they will need to be a contender in the Gulf South Conference when the Hawks hit the road for the first of two straight GSC tests that will set the tone for what's ahead.

The new year will be about being able to put together 40 minutes of continuous effort and execution," Hawks head coach Tyler Murray said as his team, 6-6 overall and 1-5 in the conference, heads to Livingston, Ala., for a 5 p.m. GSC tip-off against West Alabama then travels down the road to Carrollton on Monday to take on conference foe West Georgia at 7:30 p.m.

"We haven't been able to consistently put together 40 minutes of great effort and great execution," the first-year coach said. "This league is too good to expect to win with anything less than your best for 40 minutes."

There's little doubt that the Hawks have learned that the hard way so far this season.

Murray points out that four of the team's losses were decided by a combined 12 points, and in three of those setbacks the Hawks had possession of the ball and within a basket of either claiming a win or forcing overtime.

And putting points on the board hasn't been an issue as offensively, Shorter is the league's third best scoring team averaging 87.5 points per game and boasts nearly six players who average in double figures.

Serving as the tip of the Hawks' offensive spear has been junior Phil Taylor, who leads the GSC and is No. 2 in Division II with a 26.7 points per game average, averages 4.8 assists and leads the conference in minutes played staying on the court for more than 39 minutes.

Joining Taylor in the double-digit category includes junior Alijah Bennett (12.9), senior Trevor McDade (11.6 ppg and he leads GSC with 3.1 steals a game), junior Chris Daniels (11.5 and a team-high 6.2 rebounds) and junior Cole Birchfield (10.9), while sophomore Amonte Potter is flirting with double figures averaging 9.4 points.

But as well as they are putting the points on the board, the Hawks have had a hard time stopping their opponent as Shorter ranks 10^th in the 11-team league is scoring defense, yielding 86.1 points to foes.

Offensively I think we have enough talent to keep us in games from a scoring standpoint, however we have to get better defensively," Murray said. If we can guard the ball and keep it in front and not get beat off the dribble, that will drastically improve our defense and give us a great chance to put us in position to win games.

"Our margin of error is small," he said. "We can't make the same mistakes over and over and expect to put ourselves in a possession to win."

After their two conference road games over the next three days, the Hawks return home for the first time in 2016 when Shorter plays back-to-back GSC outings at the Winthrop-King Centre, hosting Mississippi College on Jan. 9 at 4 p.m. and welcoming Delta State on Jan. 11 at 8 p.m.

"Our focus will continue to be defense, being able to guard the ball off the bounce and being able to rebound the basketball," said Murray. "We don't have a whole lot of size so collectively we have to get in there and scrap out loose balls and rebounds for us to have a chance to win.