Macon, Georgia – Central Georgia Technical College took a 67 – 66 lead with 18 seconds remaining. The Jets brought the ball in and across half-court before calling a time out with 12 seconds on the clock. The Jets inbounded the ball to sophomore Aaron Pitts Jr., who scored the winning layup with 3.5 seconds to put the Jets ahead 68 – 67 and allow them to snap a nine-game losing streak.
“I am so proud of these guys for staying positive and working hard. When you’ve lost nine games in a row, most teams would have folded. These guys kept working hard and never stopped believing and it paid off last night,” said Jets head coach Chris Ballauer after his team upset the sixth place Central Georgia Tech Titans in Macon. The Jets are now 4 – 10 in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association and 7 – 20 overall.
SGTC Head Coach Chris Ballauer drew up a side out of bounds play that his former coach, Gerald Cox from Coastal College of Georgia, had used. The Jets got the ball to Aaron Pitts, Jr. who made the lay-up with 3.5 second remaining. Central Georgia Tech called a time out to set up their own last second play.
Central threw the ball inbounds and Jets sophomore Nathan Wilson caught the ball and passed to Aaron Pitts, who dribbled until the final buzzer sounded. “It was a back and forth game. Our guys executed in the final seconds and we were able to walk away with the win. That was big for us!” said Ballauer.
South Georgia Tech was up 37 – 32 at the end of the first half, but Central Georgia Tech rallied in the second half to outscore the Jets 35 – 31 to nearly snatch the victory. The Jets remain in ninth place in the GCAA. Georgia Highlands is first with an 11 – 1 record followed by South Georgia State (9 – 3), Albany Tech (9 – 4), Andrew College (7 – 5), East Georgia (6 – 7), Central Georgia (5 – 8) and Gordan (4 – 9).
Only the top eight teams will advance to the GCAA end of the season tournament. SGTC is currently ninth and will need some things to fall their way to move up into 8th place. The Jets have two games left. They face Georgia Highlands on Saturday, February 25th at 3 p.m. as part of a double-header for the Alumni-Sophomore Day celebration in the James S. Peters gymnasium and then travel to Andrew College on Wednesday, March 1st.
Gordon College and Central Georgia Tech both have three games left including one with each other. If the Jets win out and either Gordon or Central Georgia Tech lose out, the Jets could ease into the tournament.
In the win against Central Georgia Tech, Bryce Turner came off the bench to lead the Jets in scoring with 17 points. He also had six rebounds. Aaron Pitt was the next leading scorer with 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists and one steal. Nathan Wilson was the only other Jet in double digits with 11 points and 11 rebounds. He also had four assists.
Kallin Fonseca and Tim Loud both added eight points. Ryan Djoussa contributed four points, Jordan Brown had three and Noah Barnett closed out the scoring with two points in a game where every point counted.
The Jets hit 46.6% of their field goal attempts, 44.4% of their three-point shots and 75% of their free-throws. Central Georgia was 26 – 66 from the field for 39.4%, 7 – 29 from the three-point line (24.1%) and 8 – 12 from the foul line (66.7%).
The Jets will be looking for a win on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Georgia Highlands on Alumni-Sophomore Day. A tailgate luncheon with free hot dog and hamburgers will begin at 12:15 p.m. followed by the Lady Jets and East Georgia at 1 p.m.