Brunswick, Ga. – It was fitting that senior players for the College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team led the way Saturday afternoon in a big 78-75 upset of Middle Georgia at Howard Coffin Gym.
Saturday was Homecoming at Coastal Georgia, but it also was Senior Day for the six Mariners seniors who were honored before tipoff to their final home game at the school.
And it was these same players making major contributions as Coastal Georgia (9-18 overall, 5-10 Southern States Athletic Conference) put together one of its best efforts of the season while knocking off the Knights (14-6, 11-4) who came to town second in the standings for the SSAC. The victory moved the Mariners a step closer toward securing a berth in the SSAC postseason tourney as they are now two games ahead of both Blue Mountain and Brewton-Parker in the conference standings.
The last two teams in the standings at season's end will not get into the conference tournament.
Coastal Georgia closes the season with away games at Brewton-Parker next Saturday and Faulkner and Auburn-Montgomery the following week. The SSAC tournament is also slated for Montgomery, Ala., the first week of March.
On Saturday, senior Corey Harris paced Coastal Georgia's triumph with a career-high 25 points including several clutch free throws that salted away the game in the final minute. The senior from Kennesaw also had five assists and did not commit as turnover as the starting point guard.
Also contributing heavily to the win were seniors Dominic Early and Derrick Frye, who finished with 21 and 14 points, respectively. Early, who scored right at his league-leading average, also pulled down six rebounds and blocked two shots. Fellow senior Jamaal Rhodes, who has been blistering the nets of late, scored just six points but finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.
Also, senior Milton Geddes blocked two shots on the defensive end while senior Andrej Tomic also logged time after hearing the Bosnian national anthem played for the first time in Coffin during the pregame ceremony.
The Mariners started slowly, but after taking their first lead six minutes into the game on a three-ball by Rhodes, they would never trail again. They went up by as much as nine points in the opening half before going into haltime with a36-28 advantage.
In the second period, the Mariners quickly built their lead to 48-37 and would keep a comfortable cushion until a spurt by the Knights got the visitors within 60-58 with 7:13 to go, leading to a timeout by the Mariners who ended up needing to work to the end to put away with win.
The talk with head coach Jesse Watkins got the Mariners back on track as they pulled away again, going up by six on a trifecta by Harris who would make another after the Knights answered with a trey on the other end to keep the Mariners in front by 68-62 as the clock approached three minutes.
Middle Georgia did score the next four points to get within a bucket at 68-66 with 2:35 left, but a layup by Harris followed by an Early free throw and then an Early basket after a steal by Geddes gave the Mariners a 73-66 lead as the game headed toward the final minute.
Harris put the game away by making five of six foul shots in the closing moments.
For the game, the Mariners shot 44.6 percent (29-65) from the field and committed just 13 turnovers.
Middle Georgia got 22 points and nine boards from Kieston Standfield and 20 points and 11 rebounds from David Bivins in defeat.
Coastal Georgia lost to the Knights in Cochran in the first meeting between the teams.
Also at halftime of Saturday's game, the Homecoming king and queen were named. The king was Justic Brewer Bryant and the queen was Jordan Dudley.
The Homecoming festivities started Saturday with a tailgate during which both Coastal Georgia basketball teams were recognized. The day's events concluded Saturday night with a school dance.
