DAHLONEGA – The University of North Georgia (UNG) men's basketball team rolled to its largest conference win of the season in an 80-59 victory over Georgia Southwestern (GSW) on Wednesday night inside Lynn Cottrell Arena at the UNG Convocation Center.

Wednesday's victory was one of the best all around performances of the season for the Nighthawks (16-11, 8-7 Peach Belt). 

UNG combined to shoot 28-of-53 (52.8 percent) from the floor, 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) and 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) at the free throw line. Each mark is a top three performance for the Nighthawks against a conference foe this season.

Perhaps more impressively was the distribution against the Hurricanes. UNG assisted on 22 of its 28 made field goals Wednesday. It was a season-high for assists against a conference opponent this season and the second-best performance overall in assist percentage at 78.6 percent.

Junior guard AJ White was tremendous for the third straight game in what was perhaps his best overall performance of the season. The Memphis, Tenn. native entered Wednesday's showdown having scored 23 points in back-to-back games.

Against GSW White certainly scored but he did much more than that as well. The point guard led UNG with 19 points on a season-high 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) shooting mark from deep. He also added three rebounds and six assists while committing zero turnovers in 35 minutes played.

In the last three games, White is averaging 21.7 points on 71.0 percent (22-of-31) shooting from the floor and a remarkable 57.1 percent (12-for-21) mark from downtown. 

Junior center Colin Turner chipped in 13 points while tying a game-high seven rebounds. He added a block and a steal on defense.

Freshman forward Zack Hawkinson posted 12 points while also snagging seven boards. Hawkinson went 4-for-5 from the floor and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe.

In his fifth consecutive start, senior guard Sutton Smith also had one of his best all around performances of the season. The Alpharetta, Ga. native dropped eight points, his third-most this season, while posting new season-highs with four rebounds and eight assists. He went 3-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-3 from three-point range.

Senior guard Hunter Shedenhelm added nine points as he knocked down a pair of big threes during the win. 

Freshman forward Jack Shutters highlighted his seven-point, six-rebound performance with his second made three of the season in the closing minutes.

UNG jumped out to a quick 11-4 lead in the game and never looked back. The Hurricanes eventually cut the lead to only two points 15:34 to play in the first half but the Nighthawks kept their distance by closing the half with a 40-35 lead.

An 11-0 run over three minutes in the second half cemented a double-digit lead for UNG before the under 12-minute media timeout. 

GSW cut the lead to its smallest deficit of the second half at 62-56 with 8:00 left on the clock. The Nighthawks responded by out-scoring the Hurricanes 17-3 to close the game. UNG did not concede a point to GSW in the final 6:02.

The wire-to-wire victory marks the third-straight win for the Nighthawks and firmly puts them in sixth place in the PBC standings with three games remaining. Two of UNG's final three games are against opponents above them in the standings (Augusta, USC Aiken), allowing an opportunity for them to move up in seeding before the conference tournament.

UNG will travel to second-place Augusta (17-8, 11-4 Peach Belt) on Saturday, Feb. 22. The Nighthawks took down Augusta 72-67 at home back on Jan. 25. The rematch in Augusta, Ga.on Saturday tips off at 3:30 p.m.