Brunswick, Ga. – Closing out the season at home with two games this week, the College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team dropped the first of the two games Thursday night, falling 78-70 to league foe Middle Georgia at Howard Coffin Gym.
Coastal Georgia, which was eliminated from contention for the final spot in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament last week, is now 4-23 overall and 1-17 in conference games.
The Mariners will host No.5-ranked Dalton State Saturday in the season finale which is also the annual Homecoming game. Tip time is 4 p.m. following the Coastal Georgia-Brenau women's contest.
On Thursday, the Mariners and Knights were locked in a good one at halftime. The visitors took a 36-32 lead into intermission following an opening 20 minutes in which the teams were tied seven different times and the largest lead was five points by both teams.
But when the second half began, the Knights took charge, starting the period with a 23-13 surge over the first 10:36 of play for a 59-45 advantage which was the largest for the game.
The Mariners wouldn't recover from their slow start after halftime as they would get no closer than seven points over the final 9:24 of the game.
It was the scoring and rebounding of Kieston Standfield which made the biggest difference for Middle Georgia after halftime. Standfield, who came into the game averaging 18.1 points to lead the conference, had eight points and four rebounds at halftime after playing just over seven minutes due to early foul trouble.
In the second half, though, the 6-foot-7 senior center, who also averages 9.9 rebounds, would toss in 20 points and grab 10 rebounds to finish the night with a game-best 28 points and 14 boards while carrying the Knights to the victory.
Also for Middle Georgia, Brandon Ingleton finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double while Pat Edmonds contributed 15 points to give the visitors three double-digit scorers.
The Knights also had three players notch double-figures for rebounds as Marques Hinton finished with 11 boards in the win.
As a team, the Knights dominated the backboards, snaring 61 rebounds to just 37 by the Mariners.
Coastal Georgia shot just 31.6 percent (24-76) for the game, misfiring repeatedly from three-point range as the Mariners finished just 5-for-29 from the arc for the night.
Haylen Washington, the leading scorer for the Mariners, finished with a team-best 19 points while also leading the team with nine rebounds. Brandon Martin finished with 11 points and Jordan Lewis added 10.
The Knights won while committing 35 turnovers.
The Mariners started five freshmen including former Camden County stars Jonathan Canada and Jaylen Smallwood, Landon Sarazine and Jeremy Joyner.
