Franklin Springs, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team battled the No. 18 team in the country for the duration Saturday afternoon, but a solid effort went for naught as the Mariners fell 71-65 to Emmanuel College in the Southern States Athletic Conference confrontation at the new Williamson Basketball Arena.
The loss came two days after the Mariners erased a late 21-point deficit and won 104-98 in double overtime over Southern Wesleyan at Howard Coffin Gym in Brunswick.
On Saturday, the Mariners (5-16 overall, 3-8 conference) were hoping to ride any momentum gained from that thrilling comeback to an upset-victory on the road against the Lions (18-2, 7-1) who hadn't played since Monday after gearing up for a Thursday showdown at No. 6 Lee which was postponed by inclement weather.
The Mariners got down by 10 points in the opening half, but came back and led by six points twice after that before going to the locker room trailing 34-33 at intermission. It looked like the Mariners might hold the lead at the break, but the Lions scored the final bucket of the half on a driving layup by Adrian Justice just before the horn sounded to end the first 20 minutes, giving the home team a 34-33 advantage at the half.
In the second half, the Lions would increase their lead to 10 points in the first eight minutes of the period. They would lead by that same margin four more times after that, but every time, the Mariners would come back just enough to remain a threat all the way to the end.
The Mariners never got any closer than four points, however. That was their deficit the last time the Lions went ahead by 10 points with 22 seconds to go on a pair of free throws by Luke Miller for a 69-59 lead.
Coastal Georgia quickly whittled its deficit to 69-65 on back-to-back three-pointers by Reggie Burke and P.J. Reason that were sandwiched around a missed foul shot by the Lions in a one-and-one situation.
Reason made his three with 11.8 seconds to go, and with the Mariners forced to foul, they did so in the backcourt to send Mike Stanley to the line for the Lions.
Stanley took the suspense out of the remaining final seconds by making both of his free throws to lift the Lions to a 71-65 lead that would be the final score.
For the game, Justice led all scorers with 15 points for Emmanuel, which also saw Miller (14), McCrary (12) and Stanley (12) all score in twin numbers. Justice also finished with a team-best eight rebounds for the Lions.
Burke and Kentorey Johnson finished as the leading scorers for the Mariners as the team's two top point-producers this season both scored 14 points apiece. Dustin Henry added 12 markers for the Mariners.
Johnson and Kevari Francis both yanked down 11 rebounds to lead the Mariners on the backboards.
With his 14 and 11 performance, Johnson recorded his ninth double-double effort of the season. He entered the weekend with a league-high eight double-double games this season.
The Mariners will be back on the road Tuesday when they visit Coker College for a 7 p.m. game. Coastal Georgia defeated Coker, an NCAA Division II team, 67-65 on Nov. 20 for its first victory this year.
