Thomas University from Thomasville put the first points on the scoreboard when they traveled to Americus for a pre-season scrimmage against the South Georgia Technical College Jets, but that lead was short lived as the Jets soared past the Night Hawks five minutes later and never looked back as they rolled to a 70 – 53 victory.
“We are making progress and headed in the right direction,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Travis Garrett, after his team posted the pre-season victory. “Overall I thought the guys played hard. But we open the season on Friday, November 1st with Cape Fear in the Cape Fear Classic in Wilmington, NC. Cape Fear made it to the Sweet 16 of the national tournament last year and they will be good again this year. They have a couple of D1 transfers who will bring a lot of experience to their team so we are looking forward to the challenge.”
Even though Coach Garrett realizes the match-up with Thomas University was a scrimmage, he felt good about letting everyone get some time on the court. “I know we have a deep bench which is refreshing,” said Garrett. “There was not any drop off when we sent five new guys on the court. Honestly, the second group with sophomores Brice Paster and Toriano Lewis, along with freshmen Austin Hadden, Tabais Long and Jalen Renolds were better because the spark they gave us off the bench with their energy pulled us into the lead.”
Thomas University scored first in the match-up with 17:59 showing on the clock. They maintained that lead and were up 7 – 5 with 14:05 left in the half. But within three minutes, the second group of Jets came in and quickly turned the game around. At 11:19, the Jets were up 12 – 7 and with 7:22 left in the half, they had pulled ahead 22 – 11 and never looked back.
Three of the Jets scored in double figures despite Coach Garrett letting all the players see time on the court. Sophomore guard Toriano Lewis from Richland, VA, was the top scorer on the night with 14 points. He had three three-pointers in the second half and one in the first half.
Freshman guard Austin Hadden from Charlotte, NC, was the second leading scorer with 11 points. Most of his points came in the first half. The only other Jets in double-figures was sophomore forward Justin Johnson from Ft. Lauderdale, FL. He had a total of 10 points. Six came in the first half and four in the second half.
Tobias Long, a freshman guard/forward from Conyers, GA, tossed in nine points. He hit a total of three three-pointers, two in the first half and one in the second half. Sophomore transfer Jarius Carroll and freshman guard Jordan Stephens from Macon, GA, both had five points, sophomore Jaylan McKinney and freshman Jalen Reynolds scored four points each and then freshmen Denari Garrett and Christian De Leon and sophomore Eric Walker closed out the seconding with two points each.
The Lady Jets have a scrimmage on Saturday, October 26th at 1 p.m. when they host Wesleyan College in the hangar on the Americus campus.
Both the Jets and the Lady Jets open the regular 2019-2020 season on November 1st. The Jets travel to Wilmington, NC and the Lady Jets will host the Lady Jets Tip-Off Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Lady Jets will face Santa Fe College on Friday, November 1st at 7 p.m. and then Chattahoochee Valley Community College at 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 2nd.
