The South Georgia Technical College Jets were up by seven points with less than five minutes of play against South Georgia State College. However, the South Georgia State Hawks scored 12 unanswered points in 4:45 minutes to take the 62 – 57 Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) victory on the Jets home court.
The loss dropped South Georgia Technical College to 2 – 4 in the conference and 9 – 11 overall. South Georgia State College moved to 4 -2 in the conference and 17 – 3 overall. The Hawks are currently in fourth place behind Georgia Highlands, Albany Tech, and Central Georgia Tech. South Georgia Tech is now tied with Andrew College in sixth place.
South Georgia Technical College scored first but the two teams swapped the lead and tied the score three different times before South Georgia State pulled ahead 37 – 27 at the half. The Jets dropped behind 12 points before sophomores Jarius Carroll, Brice Paster and Toriano Lewis hit five three-point shots in the second half to allow the Jets to overcome the 12-point deficit and pull ahead 57 – 50 with less than five minutes left in the game.
Sophomore guard Jarius Carroll was the top scorer for the Jets with 13 points and sophomore guard Brice Paster was close behind with 12 points. He hit four three-point shots and three of those came at crucial times during the second half.
Freshman guard/forward Denari Garrett had eight points, all of them scored in the first half. Sophomore Toriano Lewis ended the night with six points. He hit two three-pointers down the stretch in the second half. Freshman point guard Lamont Sanders had a total of six points and sophomore Justin Johnson also had six points.
Jalen Reynolds, Tabais Long, and Merdy Bata closed out the scoring for the Jets with two points each.
The Jets will attempt to get back on the winning track when they host Albany Technical College on Saturday, January 25th at 3 p.m. as part of a conference doubleheader with the Lady Jets. The Lady Jets will open at 1 p.m. against the Lady Titans.
Albany Tech’s men’s team is currently ranked second in the GCAA behind Georgia Highlands with a 5 – 1 record. The women’s team is currently ranked fifth with a 3 – 7 GCAA record.