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From Staff Reports

AMERICUS – The South Georgia Technical College Jets tried to stage a last second comeback against the third-ranked Andrew College Fighting Tigers but fell short and gave up a 67 – 60 Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association decision to fall to 2 – 6 and 5 – 16 on the season.

“We pulled within four points with 20 seconds on the clock and were poised to try and tie the game up and send it into overtime, but we fell short,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets coach Chris Ballauer.  “We are still fighting some injuries but we did not shoot the ball well and it caught up with us.”

The Jets only hit 5.26% (1 of 19) from the three-point line for the entire 40-minute period.  They were 0 for 9 in the first half.  Despite that poor three-point performance, the Jets were up 22 – 17 at the end of the first half.   They were up by as many as 12 points (20 – 8) with about five minutes left in the half.

Andrew College came out strong in the second half hitting 9 of 11 three-point attempts to pull ahead 27 – 26 with 16:35 on the clock.  The two teams battled back and forth over the next six minutes until the Jets were able to pull ahead 45 – 39 with 9:09 remaining.

The Fighting Tigers rallied and turned a six-point deficit into a 13-point lead in less than five minutes.  Despite being down by 13, the Jets came back in the final four minutes and cut the deficit to four points with 20 seconds left.  That was as close as they could come and Andrew hit a three-pointer to clinch the 67 – 60 victory.

Andrew College is currently in third place in the GCAA with a 5 – 2 and 14 – 7 record.  Georgia Highlands is in first place with a 6 – 0, 12 – 8 record followed by South Georgia State at 6 – 1; 17 – 4.  Gordon College is in fourth place, Albany Tech is fifth, Central Georgia Tech is seventh and East Georgia State is currently eighth.  South Georgia Tech and Southern Crescent Tech are ninth and 10^th.  Only the top eight teams advance to the GCAA end of the season playoffs.

Sophomore guard Aaron Pitts was the top scorer with 18 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.  Freshman guard Justin Evans was the only other Jet in double-digits with 11 points and he hit the Jets only three-point shot.  He also had one rebound and four steals on the night.

Another freshman, Tim Loud started for the Jets and walked away with nine points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal.  Bryce Turner added eight points and Nathan Wilson had six.  Wilson and Pitts tied as the top rebounders with eight each.

Closing out the scoring for the Jets were Kallin Fonseca with four points and Ryan Djoussa and Noah Barnett with two points each.  Only eight Jets took the court during the entire 40-minutes.

The Jets will travel to Swainsboro to take on East Georgia State College on Saturday, February 4^th at 3 p.m. and then host South Georgia State on Wednesday, February 8^th at 7 p.m.  They travel to Southern Crescent Tech on Saturday, February 11^th for a 3 p.m. game and then to Gordon on Wednesday, Feb. 15^th for a 7 p.m. game.  They will return home on Saturday, Feb. 18^th at 3 p.m. for a game with Albany Tech.

The Lady Jets will play at home on Saturday, February 4^th at 1 p.m. against Andrew College and then travel to Georgia Highlands on Wednesday, Feb. 8^th for a 5:30 game.  They will host Central Georgia Tech on Monday, February 13^th at 5:30 and then play Middle Georgia Prep at home on Thursday, February 16^th at 5:30 p.m.