THOMASVILLE, Ga. - It took an extra five minutes, but the College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team secured their first win of the season, defeating the Thomas Nighthawks by a final of 93-89 on Tuesday night inside TU Gymnasium.
CCGA made 23 free throws and shot 48 percent from the field in a night that saw them snap a losing streak dating back to the 2023-24 season.
For the first two minutes of the game, both teams were feeling each other out, with the Mariners (1-3) gaining the slight upper hand with a 7-5 lead with 18:14 on the clock in the first half. The jumper by Salle Wilson that put CCGA on top also sparked a 10-0 run over the next three minutes of game time, and when Thaddeus Burns made a layup to put CCGA up 10, it forced a Nighthawks (3-2) timeout.
The run by the Mariners started a trend for almost the remainder of the first half, as both sides traded runs back and forth. Out of the timeout, Thomas went on a 7-0 run of their own to cut the lead back to just three at 15-12, forcing a timeout from the Mariners with 13:53 remaining in the half.
Over the next five minutes of game time, CCGA turned things around once again, sparking another run in the favor of the Mariners, this time a 13-2 run. Wilson and Burns continued to torch the Nighthawks defense with back-to-back threes to begin the run, and Kaden McArthur combatted a jumper from Atraiel Washington with a pair of free throws. Burns added another three on the next trip down the floor, and after a Thomas turnover, Valdy Zephir capped the run with a layup and put the Mariners up 28-14 with 8:26 to go in the half. Ja'Vian Baker ended the run with a layup to cut the lead down to 12, but Burns came right back down the floor with a jumper of his own to cancel out the Thomas bucket.
Both teams continued to throw their best at each other, and that trend continued until the final media timeout of the first half as the Mariners took a 33-23 lead to the benches.
Out of the media, Burns continued to torch the Nighthawks defense with another three, his fourth of the first half, to put the Mariners back up 10 with just under three to play in the half.
Just when it looked like Thomas was climbing back into the game going into the half with a 5-0 run, Deandre Jefferson buried a three with 0.5 seconds on the clock to send the Mariners to the locker room with an eight point, 39-31, lead.
Burns led the way with 18 points on 7-10 shooting and 4-6 shooting from the three point line. Wilson finished the half with 10, and McArthur added six. The Mariners shot a blistering 52 percent from the field and an even better 53 percent from deep, holding Thomas to just 38 percent from the field and 29 percent from three.
Thomas came out of the locker room clawing their way back immediately to begin the second half, and with 12:55 left in the game, the Nighthawks had the game tied 47-47 thanks to Jailin Lee. The two teams continued to trade baskets and the lead until the 11:28 mark when CCGA went on a short but effective personal 6-0 run from Wilson to get the lead back up to five, as the Mariners led 55-50 with 10:32 left in the game.
Just as quickly as they gave the lead up, Thomas fired right back with back-to-back threes from Lee and Baker to retake the lead less than a minute after the Mariners regained it.
The two teams returned to blows and continued to trade the lead, and the game was tied at 61 a piece with 7:46 to go in the contest. At the 6:32 mark, Burns gave the Mariners the lead back with a jumper, but after a timeout from CCGA, Noah Lattin went to the line for a pair and sank them both to tie the game right back up. With the game tied at 67 a piece, both teams went into a lull offensively until Andre Lightbourne knocked down a transition three pointer for Thomas, putting the Knighthawks up three with 3:22 to play. Not to be outdone, the Mariners forced a missed shot the next time down, and with numbers in transition, Wilson found Burns from the left wing to tie the game once again. Later, both Lee from Thomas and Wilson from CCGA both went 2-2 from the line on their respective trips down, and with 1:56 to go in the game, the game was tied once again, this time at 72 a piece.
Wilson once again found his way to the charity stripe and came through once again with a 2-2 trip to put CCGA up two, but Lightbourne came right down the floor and buried a three to give Thomas the one point advantage with 1:15 to play. On their next possession, CCGA had multiple attempts to take the lead, but a missed three from McArthur with 45 seconds gave Thomas the ball with a chance to put the game out of reach. Thomas wasted their trip down with an offensive foul, and CCGA had one shot to make a basket to win the game.
Needing a basket, McArthur put the ball in his hands and drove to the basket and made a tough layup to put the Mariners up one with seven seconds remaining. Coming back down the floor and needing a basket, Thomas attacked the lane and drew a foul on Jamill Giles with just 1.1 seconds left on the clock, sending Joshua Robertson to the line with a chance to win the game from the charity stripe. Robertson made the first but the second rimmed out with Wilson grabbing the rebound, and the game went five minutes longer into an overtime period with the score tied 76-76 at the end of 40 minutes.
In the overtime period, CCGA jumped out to an 87-81 lead thanks to four points from McArthur, but a three pointer from Tyson Anderson dropped in a huge three for Thomas with just 44 seconds left in the period. McArthur followed once again with a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to six, and the Mariners forced an empty possession for the Knighthawks, nudging the momentum in favor of CCGA. The Mariners failed to get the ball in play, turning the ball over on the inbound, leading to a layup for Robertson and the Nighthawks, trimming the lead to just three. CCGA got the ball in safely to McArthur who drew the foul and went to the line looking to ice the game at the charity stripe with just nine seconds on the clock. The sophomore from Suwanee drained the pair to give the Mariners a five point lead, but Robertson ran right down the floor and made a huge three pointer to cut the lead down to two with one second on the clock. Once again at the line looking to ice the game, McArthur showed ice in his veins to drop in another pair of free throws to put the Mariners up four. Thomas heaved the ball to the other side of the court, but could not get up a shot, and the Mariners left the TU Gymnasium with a 93-89 victory in hostile territory.
The trio of McArthur, Burns, and Wilson scored a combined 77 points in the victory, with McArthur scoring the final 10 points of the game for the Mariners. McArthur finished with 28 points on 6-12 shooting and 14-16 from the free throw line, a new career high for the sophomore. McArthurs line from the charity stripe also tied the fourth most in school history, tying Reggie Burke and Kenny Brown. Wilson finished with 24 points, just two shy of a career high, going 8-14 from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Burns finished with a new career high of 25 points on 10-14 shooting, 5-7 from three, and also grabbed seven rebounds in the victory.
The win over Thomas was the first for CCGA since January 17, 2024, snapping an 14 game losing streak dating back to last season.
The Mariners will now turn their focus to their 2024-25 Sun Conference opener against the Warner Royals on Saturday afternoon. Tip off is set for 4 p.m. from Lake Wales, Fla.
