Marianna, FL - The Jets found it tough going this past weekend when they dropped two games on the road in the Chipola College Classic Tournament in Marianna, FL. The Jets opened up against Chiploa College and suffered a 64 – 44 loss and then came back in the second match-up but fell five points shy in an 82 – 77 loss to Gulf Coast State College.
“Chiploa and Gulf Coast State are currently ranked in the top 15 spots in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll, so we were up against some very good competition,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Travis Garrett.
“Chipola is currently ranked 15th in the nation and we did not match-up good against them but I was proud of the way we played against Gulf Coast State College which is currently unbeaten and ranked sixth in the nation.”
The Jets came out pretty strong against Chipola in the opening game of the tournament and were only down 26 – 21 at the end of the first half. But Chipola held the Jets to 23 points in the second half and amassed 38 points to take the 64 – 44 victory.
“We did not shoot the ball well against Chipola,” said Garrett. The Jets only hit 25% of their shots from the field, were 20% from the three-point line and were only seven of 12 from the foul line.
Sophomore Justin Johnson led the team in scoring with 17 points and he was the only member of the SGTC squad to reach double-figures. Only one other starter even accounted for any points in that game and it was center Merdy Bata who had two points. Sophomore Brice Paster came off the bench to add nine points for the Jets. He hit three of five shots from the three-point line. Tobias Long was the next highest scorer with seven points. Jalen Reynolds contributed five points and Jordan Stephens came up with four points. Chipola had three players in double-figures.
The Jets rebounded on Saturday to pull ahead of the sixth best team in the country with a 44- 38 half-time lead over Gulf Coast. But Gulf Coast regrouped in the second half to outscore the Jets 44 – 33 and take the 82 – 77 victory and keep their unbeaten record unblemished.
Sophomore Justin Johnson led the Jets again in scoring with 26 points. He had some help from sophomore Toriano Lewis who was also in double-figures with 13 points. Sophomore Jaylan McKinney started and came up with eight points and then Denari Garrett and Merdy Bata closed out the scoring for the starting five with four points each.
The scoring off the bench was pretty balanced for the Jets with Lamont Sanders, Austin Hadden, and Tabais Long each scoring five points, Jalen Reynolds added four and Brice Paster had three points. Gulf Coast had three players in double-figures.
The Jets will host Florida Gateway College on December 17th at 7 p.m. and then take a break before returning to Americus to host the Jets Holiday Classic on December 28th and 29th. The Jets will play at 4 p.m. on the 28th and 2 p.m. on the 29th. The Jets are currently 5 – 6 overall this season and will not start conference until January 2020.