Cochran, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team fell Saturday afternoon at Middle Georgia State, losing 81-76 to the Knights who are currently in second place in the Southern States Athletic Conference.

The league meeting was the first of two between the Mariners and Knights. They are scheduled to square off again on Feb.13 in Brunswick in Coastal Georgia's annual Homecoming game.

With Saturday's loss, the Mariners dropped to 7-17 overall and 3-9 in the SSAC. The Knights are now 10-5 overall and 8-3 in the league as they are just a game back of William Carey in the conference standings going into the final month of the regular season.

Saturday's game was an uphill battle for the Mariners from the beginning as the Knights raced out to a 10-0 advantage and would go up by as much as 20-6 in the opening half before taking a 37-28 lead into intermission. The Mariners cut their early deficit to four points late in the half.

After halftime, Middle Georgia pulled away again, using a quick 14-2 surge that started at the 15:19 mark to take a 61-40 lead with 12:40 to play.

To their credit, the Mariners didn't quit as they fought back to get within 79-76 with 17 seconds to go, but after a pair of missed foul shots that could have trimmed the deficit to a point, Ryan Wilkins finished off the win for the Knights by making a pair of free throws with six seconds left that made for the final 81-76 score.

The Mariners placed five players in double figures, getting 16 points from Jamaal Rhodes, 15 from Derrick Frye, 14 from Dominic Early and 13 each from Marquice Jones and Malik Channer.

Early and Rhodes both grabbed six rebounds to lead the Mariners on the glass.

The Knights got 21 points from Kieston Standfield and 20 from Wilkins. Pat Emonds added 11 for the home team. Cory Reid and Stanfield both pulled down nine rebounds in the win.

Middle Georgia made 23 of 31 foul shots. The Mariners were 9-for-16 at the charity stripe.

Coastal Georgia will play again next Saturday at home versus Brewton-Parker. Tip time is 4 p.m. following an earlier women's game between the schools.