Jackson, Miss. - The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team flirted with its first victory of the season and its first-ever win in the Southern States Athletic Conference Saturday at Belhaven, but instead the Mariners were left to make the long ride home after suffering a difficult-to-swallow 86-85 overtime defeat against the Blazers.
The loss dropped the Mariners to 0-5 on the season and 0-2 in league play after spending the opening weekend of SSAC action in Mississippi, where the Mariners also were dealt a 96-75 loss by William Carey on Friday night in their SSAC opener.
Belhaven, meantime, enjoyed a successful opening weekend in conference play as it improved to 4-3 overall and started 2-0 in the league. The Blazers upset sixth-ranked and preseason favorite Southern Polytechnic in the league opener for both teams on Friday.
The Mariners saw late leads get away in both overtime and the second half.
In OT, the Mariners led 85-82 when P.J. Reason broke the final tied score of the night with a 3-point basket with 1:32 to go. Belhaven got two free throws from Jonathan Ratliff on the other end with 1:05 to play to pull within 85-84.
After the Mariners misfired on a 3-point shot, the Blazers returned the favor when they missed a dunk on their next trip. The Mariners had a chance to possibly put the game away with 14 seconds left, but they missed the front end of a one-and-one and Belhaven pulled down the rebound to give the Blazers another shot.
This time the home team capitalized when Curt Hall made a layup to put Belhaven back in front 86-85. He was fouled on the play, and Hall missed his free throw, but the Blazers rebounded the miss to keep possession and run out the clock.
In the second half, the Mariners led almost the entire time after leading 44-34 at intermission. A Ratliff 3-pointer drew the Blazers even at 72-72 with 2:01 left and neither team would score again in regulation. The Mariners had the ball last, however, and missed two shots in the final six seconds that would have won the game.
For the night, Reggie Burke led all scorers as he finished with 29 points for the Mariners. Kentorey Johnson followed with 12 points. He also led the Mariners with 16 rebounds.
Belhaven got 21 points from Ratliff and 20 from Hall in the victory.
