Brunswick, Ga. – If the College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team doesn't qualify for the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament in two weeks, it might be because of what happened Tuesday night at Howard Coffin Gym.
Or, maybe that's because of what didn't happen.
With an opportunity to help their chances of making the conference tournament in their first season in the league, the Mariners lost 83-74 to rival Brewton-Parker in a key SSAC matchup in the league's East Division.
The loss dropped the Mariners to 6-22 overall, 4-13 league and they are squarely involved in a jumbled mess in the division standings as they battle Southern Poly (4-12), Truett-McConnell (3-12) and Brewton-Parker (3-12) to see who will eventually qualify for the league tournament by finishing in the fourth and fifth spots in the standings. The top five teams in the division make the league tournament.
The Mariners will conclude the season next Thursday with another crucial game at Southern Poly. The Hornets also still have to play Truett-McConnell, while the Bears still also have to play second-ranked Lee.
Brewton-Parker, which improved to 7-20 overall with the victory over the Mariners, must still play Lee, No. 15-ranked Emmanuel and Southern Wesleyan – which are the top three teams in the divison in that same order.
The last time the Mariners and Barons met, Coastal Georgia scored the final eight points of regulation to force overtime and wound up winning 76-72.
On Tuesday, it looked like the Mariners might just come back from an even larger deficit, but it didn't happen. They trailed the Barons 62-47 with eight minutes to go and made a run to pull within 70-67 with 2:35 to play.
But, that would be as close as the Mariners would come. After two free throws by the Barons for a five-point cushion, Coastal Georgia did get within 72-69 with 1:36 left. However, the visitors were able to salt away the game by making six of seven foul shots down the stetch.
For the game, Jermaine Jackson led all scorers with 21 points for the Barons, who shot 49 percent (24-of-49) from the field.
Darrie Stephens, who led the Barons in scoring coming into the game with a 15.9 average, added 20 points.
P.J. Reason led the Mariners with 16 points, Dustin Henry followed with 15 and Reggie Burke contributed 14.
The Mariners shot 47.5 percent for the game after shooting 58.6 percent in the second half.
The Mariners struggled to score before halftime, shooting just 36.7 percent (11-of-30) which included a 3-of-16 showing at the three-point arc.
Coastal Georgia got up by eight points midway through the opening half, but the Barons came back to take a 29-25 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Barons led the whole way, though never by more than five points in the half's first eight minutes.
The Mariners got within 44-43 on a pair of Henry free throws with 12:06 to go, but the Barons responded with an 18-4 surge over the next four minutes for a 62-47 lead that proved too much for Coastal Georgia to overcome.
