Brunswick, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team came up short once again Saturday afternoon in its bid for its first-ever victory in the Southern States Athletic Conference as the Mariners fell 88-83 to Faulkner in the conference matchup at Howard Coffin Gym.
The loss left the Mariners with a 1-8 record while they fell to 0-4 in the conference after the opening two weekends of SSAC action against teams from the West side of the league. Coastal Georgia opened play in the conference for the first time two weeks ago with losses at William Carey and Belhaven in a game they led late in regulation and again in overtime before getting saddled with the tough loss.
This weekend, the Mariners lost at home to Auburn-Montgomery on Friday before playing Faulkner on Saturday.
The Eagles (10-1 overall, 4-0 SSAC) completed a weekend sweep of their road games. They won at Brewton-Parker on Friday before winning here on Saturday to stay perfect in the conference.
In Saturday's game, the Eagles led the Mariners from start to finish and led throughout the second half though the Mariners hung close enough to at least give themselves a chance near the end. Faulkner led by 14 at one point before halftime and took a 50-38 cushion into the intermission break.
After halftime, the Eagles continued to lead by double digits until a three-point shot by Coastal Georgia sophomore and leading scorer Reggie Burke got the Mariners within 61-54 with just over 12 minutes to go.
The Mariners would stay within single numbers for the remainder of the game, but could never pull any closer than two points. They trailed the Eagles 75-73 after Kentorey Johnson made two free throws with 4:33 to go, but the Eagles responded with points on back-to-back trips to go up 79-73.
Coastal Georgia did get back within four, but the Eagles managed to keep the Mariners at bay by making their foul shots coming down to the wire as the Mariners were forced to send them to the line as they tried to extend the game.
For the game, Cyrille Sandjon led the Eagles with 16 points while Jamarious Alderson followed with 15. Three other Faulkner players also scored in twin figures in the win.
For Coastal Georgia, Burke led the scoring with a game-high 26 points while Johnson pumped in 23 before fouling out. P.J. Reason also finished in double figures for the Mariners with his 13 points. Johnson led the Mariners on the backboards with eight rebounds.
The Mariners will now take a break from conference play for the rest of the month. They will play five consecutive out-of-conference contests beginning with a game at Erskine College on Tuesday. Erskine defeated the Mariners in their home opener on Nov. 10.
Coastal Georgia will be back at home on Jan. 1 for a non-conference game against Edward Waters before going back into SSAC action with road games starting the first weekend in January.
