Brunswick, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team missed a chance to take a step forward in the Southern States Athletic Conference East Division standings on Tuesday night as the Mariners suffered a 77-69 loss to Southern Polytechnic at Howard Coffin Gym in a pivotal division matchup.
The Mariners (5-18 overall, 3-9 league), who are trying to stay in the top five in the division and earn a berth in the postseason conference tournament, could have taken a two-game lead on the Hornets (11-11, 3-9) for fourth place in the East with a victory. But with the loss to the Hornets, the Mariners now find themselves tied for the fourth spot with Southern Poly and both teams lead sixth-place Truett-McConnell (2-10) by just a game in the division standings.
The Mariners appeared to be in good shape early in the second half when they led the Hornets 40-29 just over two minutes into the second period.
But, that would be their largest lead of the game as the Hornets quickly went on a 13-4 run to pull within 44-42 with 14:13 remaining in the game.
Southern Poly wouldn't catch the Mariners until it forged a 51-51 tie with just over 10 minutes to play. The teams would be tied twice more over the next several minutes, but after a second-chance bucket by Cortez Irby with 4:48 left gave the Hornets a 61-59 advantage, the visitors would never trail again.
They led 71-66 going into the final minute and made six consecutive free throws – all by Chase Robinson – to salt the game away.
Irby led five double-figure scorers for the Hornets with 17 points.
Reggie Burke led the Mariners with a game-high 18 points, but he scored only two points after halftime while battling cramps.
Jevan Billinger followed with 16 points for the Mariners and was the only other Coastal Georgia player to reach double digits. Kentorey Johnson just missed doubles with nine points. He led the team with 13 rebounds.
The Mariners trailed 14-2 early, but stormed back to take a 36-28 lead at halftime. They built their lead to double-digits once the second half started, but the Hornets came back just as the Mariners did in the first period.
Coastal Georgia will begin the final month of the regular season on Saturday when it hosts Truett-McConnell for the annual Homecoming game at 4 p.m.
The Mariners lost the first meeting this season between the teams by a 92-79 final score.
Saturday's game will be the first of six in a row against SSAC East opponents for the Mariners to close out the regular season.
