Blue Mountain, Miss. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team returned from the Christmas break with a key 85-82 win Saturday afternoon at Blue Mountain in a Southern States Athletic Conference matchup.

With the win, the Mariners (5-10 overall, 1-2 league) snapped an eight-game losing skid and also picked up their first SSAC win of the season after dropping their first two league games in November.

Coastal Georgia had not played a game since falling at Carver Bible on Dec. 19.

The Mariners will play all conference games from now until the end of the season. They will be at William Carey on Monday before coming back home for two games at the end of next week.

Blue Mountain (2-10, 0-3) came back from a 14-point deficit in the second half, tying the game at 71-71 on a 3-point shot by C.J Barnes at the end of regulation.

The teams were tied four different times in overtime including 82-82 after a close-range bucket by Blue Mountain's Justin McClellon with eight seconds to play.

On the game's final possession, Corey Harris drilled a trey before the final horn to lift the Mariners to the win. Dominic Early assisted on the play.

Early poured in a game-high 35 points for the Mariners. He entered the game leading the SSAC in scoring with 23.4 points a game and has now scored 30 or more points in four games this season. His high is 38 in a loss to Martin Methodist back on Nov. 20.

On Saturday, Early was 10-for-18 from the floor with a three-pointer and went 14-for-19 from the foul line. Early also finished with a game-high 10 rebounds for a double-double while dishing out six assists.

Also scoring in twin figures for the Mariners were Carey Walker and Harris who finished with 20 and 15 points, respectively. Walker did most of his scoring from three-point territory where he was 6-for-8 for the game. He also made two foul shots.

The Mariners shot 41.7 percent (25-60) from the floor and connected on 11 of 24 three-point attempts to shoot 45.8 percent from the arc.

For the Toppers, four players finished in double figures. McClellon led the team with his 15 points.

Blue Mountain shot 47.5 percent (28-59) for the game including 55.6 percent after halftime.

The Mariners closed the first half with an 8-3 spurt after the teams were tied 29-29 for a 37-32 lead at the break.

Coastal Georgia opened the second period with a 15-6 burst for a 52-38 advantage.

The Toppers didn't catch the Mariners until the three-pointer by Barnes that forced overtime.