BRUNSWICK, Ga. - The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team secured their revenge against the Florida College Falcons on Monday night, defeating the Falcons by a final score of 79-75 inside Howard Coffin Gymnasium.
Assistant Coach Keith Olive secured his first career win in a fill-in role for head coach Jesse Watkins in the home contest as the Mariners picked up their fourth win of the season to move them back to .500 on the season.
The Mariners (4-4, 2-1 SUN) took a quick three point lead with a three-pointer by Thaddeus Burns followed by a layup made by Valdy Zephir. The Falcons (3-9) took back the lead by three points with shots made by Chase Hettinger and Malik Beauford with 16:12 left in the half. The Mariners took back the lead on a layup from Kaden McAuthur and four straight points from Jeremiah Camara as the Mariners held the lead until Stephon Martin tied up the game 22-22 with a layup followed by a three pointer on the next possession by Johnny Torrence as the Falcons took a 25-22 lead with 7:15 remaining in the opening half. The Mariners took the lead again with a three point play from McAuthur with 2:21 on the clock, but the Falcons fought back as Torrence made a layup for the Falcons making the score 32-30 which secured their lead for the rest of the first half. Trailing 35-30, Burns scored the final seven points of the half to bring the Mariners within a point as they trailed 37-36 at the half break.
Burns led the Mariners in the first half with 10 points followed closely by McAuthur with seven. Torrence helped the Falcons lead by putting up 14 points against the Mariners, followed by Duda who put up seven points of his own. CCGA shot 47 percent from the floor and 31 percent from three in the half but were paced by the Falcons in both categories as Florida College shot 57 percent from the floor and 36 percent from three.
The Mariners took back the lead after the half with a layup by Wilson and maintained their lead with four consecutive points by McAuthur. With 11:10 left in the half, Camara scored, making the Mariners lead five points. Making a jump shot, Zephir increased the lead to nine making the score 52-61. The Falcons fought back hard with a three pointer made by Duda and four straight points from Torrence. The Mariners did not let the Falcons get them down with a steal and a layup from Wilson. The Falcons cut the lead up five with 2:00 left to play with a three pointer made by Duda. Both teams traded baskets until Duda made another three pointer to cut the lead to three points. Out of a Falcons timeout the Mariners got the ball to Wilson so went 2 for 2 on free throws to secure a four point win by a final score of 79-75. Five Mariners scored in the double digits, led by Wilson with 17 points. Camara finished with eight rebounds, two shy of a double double. Torrence led the Falcons with 23 points while Duda followed with 18.
The Mariners avenged their loss from the Falcons on November 4th, with their win on Monday night. CCGA will now turn their focus to this Saturday when they travel to Tifton to take on the Stallions of ABAC. Tip off is set for 4:00 p.m..
