Griffin, GA – The South Georgia Technical College Jets dropped a narrow 62 – 61 Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) decision to the Southern Crescent Tigers to fall to 1 – 1 in the conference and 9 – 7 overall. The Jets are currently tied for third place in the conference behind East Georgia and Southern Crescent.
“We didn’t show up ready to play,” said SGTC Jets head coach Chris Ballauer, who had commented that last year the Jets had a hard time bouncing back from tough conference wins. They defeated South Georgia State by one point two nights before. “We did a pretty good job defensively but on the offensive end we struggled making shots for no real reason.”
The Jets were down 35 – 30 at the end of the first half and outscored Southern Crescent 31 – 27 in the second half to drop the 62 – 61 decision. Sophomore forward Jalen Reynolds was the leading scorer for the Jets with 14 points and 16 rebounds. He also had an assist and three blocked shots on the night.
Only two other Jets were in double-digits and they were sophomore guard Marvin McGhee, III with 12 and sophomore Malik Battle with 11 points. McGhee also had 11 rebounds, four assists and one steal. Battle had four assists and one steal. Both McGhee and Battle had four fouls at the end of the game.
Sophomore guard Will Johnston accounted for seven points, Bryce Turner added six, and Nathan Wilson scored five. Kallin Fornesca made four points and Justice Hayes closed out the scoring with two points.
“This week we play at Gordon College in Barnesville on Tuesday, January 11th at 7 p.m. and then we host Albany Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m. before we go on the road to Center Georgia Tech on Saturday, January 15th. We have a chance to get back to work and to fix the things that need fixing,” said Coach Ballauer.