BRUNSWICK, Ga. - Even with a little drama at the end, the College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team snapped their six game losing streak on senior night, defeating the Webber International Warriors by a final of 70-67 inside Coffin Gym Wednesday night.Â
Using an all senior starting lineup for the first time this season, the Mariners (8-16, 5-10 SUN) held their own against the Warriors (6-20, 2-13 SUN) as the game was tied 12-12 after seven minutes of game time. David Felix led the Mariners during the stretch with five quick points with Salle Wilson following with four. Following the substitutions, the Mariners jumped on the Warriors, going on a 9-0 run getting a three from Thaddeus Burns and two straight from Preston Crisp to jump out to a 21-12 lead with 12:13 left in the half. Over the final 12 minutes, the Warriors cut the lead down to as low as two multiple times, but the Mariners controlled the game the rest of the way, ending the half on a 13-7 run as CCGA took a 43-35 lead into the locker room.Â
Crisp led the Mariners with 10 followed by Burns with eight. Zephir and Felix both added five of their own in the quarter. CCGA shot an impressive 51 percent from the floor and 50 percent from three to pace the offense.Â
CCGA kept their distance through the majority of the second half as the lead didn't dip below five until Jordan Golden cut the lead to four with a 1-2 trip from the free throw line for the Warriors. Aided by a technical foul from Webber, the Mariners got their lead back up to eight with four straight free throws from Crisp and Valdy Zephir. Webber, however, continued to fight and made the game interesting with just seconds remaining. With 49 seconds on the clock, a layup from Orlando Thomas cut the lead to just one, 68-67, forcing a timeout from the Mariners. After the Mariners missed a layup their next trip, Golden found his way to the line with a chance to give Webber the lead with just nine seconds left. It was not to be, however, as he went 0-2 from the line, but Webber got the offensive rebound and called timeout to set up a play. CCGA stood tall out of the timeouts, forcing a turnover from Webber and a foul on Wilson to extend the game. Wilson went 2-2 at the line to make the score 70-67 with two seconds left. A heave inbound and a great look at three at the buzzer made the hearts stop of the Mariner faithful, but Thomas's three went wide left and CCGA picked up the three point win on senior night.Â
Crisp finished with 18 points, the lone Mariner in double figures as both Zephir and Wilson finished with nine. CCGA shot 46 percent from the field and 50 percent from three on the game, one of their best shooting nights of the season.Â
With St. Thomas losing to Ave Maria tonight, the Mariners are now tied with the Bobcats for the sixth and final seed in the conference tournament with one game to play. CCGA needs a win and a Bobcats loss in order to take the sixth seed.Â
The Mariners will travel to Keiser for their regular season finale. Tip off is set for 4:00 p.m. from West Palm Beach.Â
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