Valdosta, Ga. -- Despite turning in their best offensive output of the season, the Hawks narrowly fell to No. 12 Valdosta State, 104-98, Thursday evening on the road.

With the loss, Shorter moves to 3-19 overall and 3-11 in conference play; while the Blazers improve to 20-2 on the year and 13-1 in the GSC.

The Blazers jumped out to an early lead with an 8-0 run in the opening minutes of the game, only to have the Hawks come back to regain the advantage, 18-17, with a 9-2 run capped by a jumper from Jacob Newman with 13:22 to play.  From there the teams traded baskets, before VSU tallied a 14-3 run midway through the period to take the lead and extend it to nine, 29-38, as Greg Zuppas needed a layup with 7:48 to go. Shorter cut the lead to one, 43-42, minutes later with a 13-5 run; sparked by a three from Jonathan Mason. Only to have the Blazers turn in nine straight to bring their advantage back to ten, 52-42, with just over three minutes remaining. The Hawks then answered with a 10-2 run to close out the half trailing 54-52.

In the second half the teams kept things close, with the Blazers holding their largest lead of the night as Clay Guillozet netted a layup to make it a 15-point, 78-63, game with 12:56 to play. From there Shorter began chipping away and cut the lead to single digits, on a three from TayVaughn Major with 10:58 remaining. Down the stretch, the teams traded runs with neither being able to pull away as the Hawks closed out the game by outscoring the Blazers 14-8 over the final five minutes and scored the last four points to cut the VSU lead to six, 104-98, as time expired.

Both teams shot above 50 percent for the game with the Hawks finishing with a 53 percent night, including going 41 percent from beyond the arc. Valdosta State tallied 56 percent of their attempts and finished 37 percent from three-point range.

Amonte Potter led all scorers with 31 points, while Newman added 19 points and both, Major and Josh Burnett turned in 16 points. Every player for the Hawks finished at least two points and one rebound; while all but Potter posted an assist.

Guillozet let the Blazers with 26 points, while Beau Justice added 25.

The Hawks will look to get back on track Saturday afternoon as they stay on the road to take on West Florida. Game time from Pensacola, Fla. is set for 5:00pm ET.