Four members of the South Georgia Technical College Jets earned top honors as members of the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) Division I men’s basketball All-Region teams for the 2021 – 2022 season and helped lead the Jets to a second-place finish in the GCAA. They will host Southern Crescent at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 1st in the Hangar in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Region XVII tournament.
Sophomore guard Marvin McGhee, III was selected as the GCAA Player of the Year and was a member of the GCCA All-Region First team. Sophomores Will Johnston and Malik Battle were both named to the GCAA All-Region Second Team and sophomore Jalen Reynolds was named to the All-Defensive team.
“I am so proud of each of these guys,” said SGTC Jets head coach Chris Ballauer. “Marvin’s winning the Player of the Year is just a testament of his hard work, and trust in our player development that Assistant Coach Jaren Harris leads. I am super proud of him and hope that California State Bakersfield knows they are getting a player.”
McGhee, 6’ 4” guard from Atlanta, GA, is currently leading the conference in scoring averaging 20.5 points per game. He has started 28 of the Jets games this season and is a 47.2 percent field goal shooter. He also hits 45.2% of his three-point attempts and 71.3% of his free throw attempts. He averages 6.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Joining McGhee in the limelight for their hard work this season were sophomores Will Johnston, a 6’ 3” point guard from Sydney, Australia, and Malik Battle, a 6’ 3” guard from Douglasville, GA, on the All-Region second team and Jalen Reynolds, 6’ 7” forward from Darien, GA, who made the All-Defensive team.
Johnson is averaging 17.3 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.5 steals. Battle is averaging 16.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. Battle is hitting 49.8 percent of his three-point attempts. Jalen Reynolds averages 11.1 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks each game. He has started 30 games this season.
Travis Garret, former South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach and now head coach of the East Georgia State College Bobcats, was selected as the GCAA Coach of Year after guiding his team to a 10 – 6 and 17 – 13 record. East Georgia finished fourth this season in the conference. Emondrew Bowles of East Georgia was the Freshman of the Year.
Joining Marvin McGhee on the first team All-Region squad was Jayvis Harvey of Georgia Highlands; Jayce Moore of South Georgia State, John Egbuta of Albany Tech and Emondrw Bowles of East Georgia.
CJ Jackson of Georgia Highlands, Rod Jones of Central Georgia Tech and AJ Spenser of South Georgia State joined SGTC’s Battle and Johnston on the second team.
SGTC’s Jalen Reynonds, Jayce Moore of South Georgia State, Julian Dozier of Georgia Highlands, Zeff Felton of Albany Tech and Sunnie Diamond of Central Georgia Tech were named to the All Defensive Team. East Georgia’s Edmondrew Bowles, Julian Dozier of Georgia Highlands, Myles Davis of Gordon State, Tyshun Briscoe of Andrew, TJ Porter of Georgia Highlands, and Demond Chesson of Southern Crescent were on the All-Freshman Team.
