Madisonville, Tenn. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team lost 78-69 Thursday night to Hiwassee College at the Rudy Youell complex on the Hiwassee campus.
The loss was the third straight for the Mariners who led 37-31 at halftime but saw the Tigers rally for the victory in the second half.
The Mariners, who dressed only seven players for the game, finished the last 36 seconds of the contest with four players on the floor after their third player of the night fouled out in the closing moments.
Hiwassee (8-12) went to the foul line 34 times compared to the 23 by the Mariners, but made only three more free throws – 19 to 16 – than Coastal Georgia for the game.
Turnovers proved to be the real difference in the game as the Mariners gave away the ball 32 total times compared to 16 for the Tigers. Hiwassee scored 16 points off the Coastal Georgia turnovers while the Mariners finished with just six points off turnovers.
The Mariners finished shooting 51 percent from the floor while the Tigers shot just 42 percent, but Hiwassee got off 14 more shot attempts than Coastal Georgia largely because of the turnovers. The Mariners finished with 47 rebounds to just 27 by the Tigers.
Marcus Morrison continues to play well for Coastal Georgia as he posted another double-double, finishing with 26 points and 13 rebounds including 10 defensive boards. Kentorey Johnson finished with 16 points for the Mariners, Reggie Burke added 13 points before fouling out in the closing seconds and Michael Johnson scored 10 before picking up his fifth foul late in the second half.
Kevari Francis led the Mariners with 13 rebounds before fouling out.
Joel Bailey paced four double-digit scorers for Hiwassee with a team-high 23 points.
The Mariners led by as much as 10 points twice in the first half before going to the locker room at intermission ahead 37-31.
The Tigers tied the Mariners 42-42 early in the second half then surged ahead 50-42 with a quick run. The Mariners came roaring back to quickly tie the score at 51-51 with just over 13 minutes to play.
The teams traded buckets for the next several minutes and were tied 62-62 with just over seven minutes left. The Tigers began to take command at that point, however, going up by nine with now only five minutes left to play.
Coastal Georgia got within 74-69 on a free throw by Morrison with just over two minutes to go, but the Tigers scored the last four points of the game from the foul line to seal the contest.
The Mariners will play at Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga on Saturday.
