South Georgia Tech Jets advance to NJCAA Region XVII finals

Rome, GA - The South Georgia Technical College Jets overpowered the Albany Technical College Titans 84-63 Friday in Rome, Georgia, to advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XVII championship finals. They will face the sixth nationally ranked Georgia Highlands Chargers at 4 p.m. Saturday to determine the NJCAA Region XVII Champions and the right to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas March 20th – 25th. That championship game will be aired online on www.jockjive.com at 4 p.m. March 11th. South Georgia Tech also has another team competing for the right to advance to the NJCAA Division I national tournament. The Lady Jets face off against the Denmark Tech South Carolina team at 2 p.m. Saturday in Americus for the right to advance to the women’s national tournament in Lubbock, Texas, March 20th – 25th. That game will be broadcast live on the local radio station. “This is what you for work all season,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Travis Garrett. “We have struggled this year, but right now we are in a position to still reach our goal of a championship. The only thing that is standing in our way is Georgia Highlands. We just have to go out there and play hard and play together for 40 full minutes.” The Jets ended the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) regular season in seventh place with a 5 – 11 conference record and an 11 – 19 overall record. However the seventh place finish was enough to allow the Jets to enter the NJCAA Region XVII tournament. South Georgia Tech traveled to Barnesville on Tuesday, March 7th and upset the second ranked Gordon College squad 76 -74 on a last second three point basket by sophomore Pat Welch. The win allowed the Jets to advance to the NJCAA Region XVII Final Four round in Rome. The Jets followed up that exciting victory with an 84 – 63 win over Albany Tech in the semi-final round to clinch their fifth straight win and advance to 13 – 19 on the season and their first NJCAA Regional XVII championship opportunity under second year head coach Travis Garrett. South Georgia Tech jumped out to a 44 – 31 lead at the end of the first half and stretched that lead to 26 points in the second half before Albany Tech came back to cut the deficit to 84 – 63 at the final buzzer. South Georgia Tech scored first and kept the lead except for two ties early in the first half. Freshman Marquel Wiggins from Macon County stepped up against Albany Tech to score 25 points and pulled down five rebounds to lead his team in scoring. He was nine of twelve in field goals and seven of ten from the free throw line. Four other Jets also stepped up to post double-figures against a strong Albany Tech team, which upset Central Georgia Tech to advance to the semi-final round. Sophomores Bobby Jackson and Pat Welch had 16 and 12 points respectively and then freshmen guards Jalen Thomas from Columbus and Michael Boone added 14 and 10 points respectively. Jackson also led the team in rebounds with nine. Boone went down in the first half with an ankle or foot injury. He returned in the second half with a noticeable limp. The Jets are hoping that he can come back to play against Georgia Highlands on Saturday. Derreck Trawick scored six points for the Jets and then Tre’Von Teague added one point to close out the scoring. Albany Tech was able to completely shutdown Andre Kennedy from Albany who was the leading scorer for the Jets against Gordon College on Tuesday.