From Staff Reports
The Americus Times-Recorder
AMERICUS —
The South Georgia Technical College Jets and Lady Jets swept Central Georgia Technical College in a conference double-header at the Hangar on Wednesday night. The Lady Jets defeated the fourth-ranked Central Georgia Technical College Lady Cougars 86–68 and the Jets made their free throws in the final minutes of the game to clinch an 86–79 victory over the Cougars and former SGTC assistant Coach Reco Dawson.
The Lady Jets moved to 6–5 in the conference and 13–8 overall with the impressive win over Central Georgia Tech. They are currently rank sixth in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association. The Jets were able to move into third place in the conference following three back-to-back conference wins. They are currently 7–3 in the conference and 17–3 overall.
“I am very proud of our guys ‘gutting’ out a victory over a very motivated and determined Central Georgia Tech team,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Jets head coach Steven Wright. “Central Georgia Tech head coach Reco Dawson had his guys ready and they fought hard, but we were able to make two or three more plays down the stretch than they did.
“Our players responded to Central Georgia’s challenge, played a gritty game, and we are starting to make better decisions in clutch situations,” continued Wright. “I am very pleased with the efforts of Anthony Ethridge and Octavius Green. They make winning plays night in and night out. Jose Hernandez also did an outstanding job last night and chipped in 11 huge points.”
The Jets led 42–38 at the end of the first half and built a seven point lead in the final minutes of the game until Central Georgia roared back to go ahead by as many as four points with three minutes remaining. The lead changed four times in the final minutes and the two teams were tied seven times before the Jets pulled away for good in the final seconds.
Anthony Ethridge led the Jets with 25 points and 10 rebounds and Octavius Green tossed in 17 points and had 12 total rebounds. Jose Hernandez was the only other Jet in double figures with 11 points. He was three of four from beyond the three-point line and had another two-point basket in a crucial situation.
B.J. Davis and Stemond Lemon both added nine points for the Jets and both hit crucial baskets during the final minutes to propel the Jets to the 86–79 victory. Jacob Obande tossed in seven points, Dario Duque added five, Ryan Outar scored two points and Houston Cabbell had one point for the Jets.
This was the Jets third consecutive win. They were coming off a 63–52 win over Middle Georgia in Cochran Monday night. “To take your team on the road and get a double-digit win against the 14th ranked team in the country is special for us,” said Coach Wright. “We had lost our two previous GCAA road games by two points, so this was an extremely important win for us to remind ourselves that we can get the job done – at home and on the road.”
The win over the Central Georgia Technical College Lady Jets was especially sweet for the Lady Jets as well because they had lost to the Cougars earlier in the season.
“We played our most complete game of the year,” said Lady Jets Head coach James Frey. “We played with great intensity and executed very well. It always helps when you shoot the ball as good as we did tonight. Now we need to build off this win and hopefully play our best basketball going into the tournament.”
Starter Kadriana Howard and Portia McCray were the leading scorers for the Lady Jets against Central Georgia Tech. They both scored 20 points. Howard also pulled down 10 rebounds and McCray had 11 rebounds. Dekoya Mack was four for five from the three-point shot line and added three free throws to score 15 points. Courtne Washington also had an outstanding game with 12 points. Three of the leading scorers from the Lady Jets came off the bench to add the intensity to give the Lady Jets the victory.
The Lady Jets shot 45.7 percent from the field and hit 60 percent of their three point shot attempts. They also made 86.7 percent of their free throw attempts.
The Jets will now travel to Waycross College on Monday, January 21st for a 7 p.m. conference game and then both the Jets and Lady Jets travel to Albany to take on Albany Tech in a conference double-header on Wednesday, January 23. The Lady Jets play at 5:30 p.m. and the Jets follow at 7:30 p.m.
The next home games for the Jets and Lady Jets is scheduled for February 6th. and begin at 5:30 p.m.
