Rough night for GC&SU basketball

Feb. 1

On a day when many Americans mourned the tragic loss of the seven astronauts aboard the Columbia space shuttle, both Georgia College & State University basketball teams gave fans a diversion to remember, thanks to a sweep of Francis Marion University in Peach Belt Conference.

However, the outcomes of both games were drastically different, as the Lady Bobcats easily disposed of the Patriots 84-60, while the Bobcats needed a buzzer-beater to stun FMU 73-71.

Women

The Lady Bobcats scored the game’s first five points. But Francis Marion wasted no time in responding, as the visitors reeled off nine unanswered points to take a 9-5 with 15:41 left in the first half. After a three-point shot by Breane Haggard GC&SU pulled to within one point at 9-8. Jontell Johnson of FMU was fouled by Dalana Watson sending last week’s PBC player to the week to the free-throw line. Johnson made one of two free shots to give FMU what turned out to be its last lead of the game at 10-8 with 14:50 to go.

GC&SU would then go on a 12-2 run over a span of 4:37, giving the Lady Bobcats a 20-12 lead with 10:13 remaining in the first half. Francis Marion wouldn’t get any closer than three points for the rest of the half, as GC&SU took a 37-26 lead into intermission.

In the second half, the Lady Bobcats continued to build on their double-digit lead, with Haggard’s steal and lay-up giving GC&SU a 55-35 lead with 14:29 left in regulation. FMU could never pare the deficit below 16 points from that point, as GC&SU cruised to a much-needed victory.

Head Coach John Carrick praised the overall performance of the Lady Bobcats.

“I think we came ready to play,” he said. “We did a real nice defensive job on them, and took away [Johnson] on the inside. We shot the ball pretty good tonight. That certainly helps your team.”

And the Lady Bobcats got plenty of help in notching the win, with Andrea Lee leading all scorers with 15 points. Alicia Ransom contributed 13 points off the bench, as did Haggard, while Watson added 12 points. GC&SU also forced 27 Francis Marion turnovers in picking up the win.

Men

The men’s game was a see-saw battle from start to finish, with FMU jumping out to an early 12-5 lead with 16:21 left in the first half. But the Bobcats would make a comeback, as they held the Patriots scoreless for the next 2:13 to take a 15-12 lead. However, the back-and-forth pace would swing between both teams the rest of the half, with Francis Marion taking a 34-33 lead on two Jarron Hinton free throws. The Patriots led 36-33 at halftime.

The second half saw FMU grab a 38-33 lead on Hinton’s jump shot with 19:53 to go in the contest. But neither team would lead by more than six points within the final 20 minutes, as the Patriots led 49-43 with 14:37 remaining.

Then the Bobcats would go on a 9-0 run to take a 52-49 lead with 9:29 to play. But that advantage lasted all of 21 seconds, as Michael Jenkins’ three-point play evened the score at 52-52 with 9:08 left. Then a dunk by Jaquan Bracey allowed Francis Marion to regain the lead with 8:11 to play.

GC&SU trailed 68-64 with 1:54 to go on Louis McCullough’s layup. But Tylan Gatling would start the late comeback for the Bobcats, as the junior from Belcamp, Md. was fouled on a successful three-point shot attempt. Gatling then covered the free-throw to complete the rare four point play, and even the score at 68-68. Then a steal by Johnnie Stafford led to Daryl Ruffus scoring on a layup and drawing the subsequent foul. A made free throw by Ruffus gave GC&SU a 71-68 lead with just 41 seconds left.

However, FMU wouldn’t go away, as a McCullough tied the score at 71-71 with a trey of his own. After calling a timeout with just 1.2 seconds, the ball was inbounded to Ruffus, who drained the game-winning shot as time expired.

Bobcat Head Coach Terry Sellers explained the game-winning shot this way.

“Roosevelt Whitney made a good screen, Kedrick Larry made a good pass, and Ruffus made a good shot. It takes a whole team to pull off a shot like that,” he said.

A total team effort was what the Bobcats needed to pull out a hard-fought win, as Ruffus led all scorers with 25 points, including the game-winner with no time left. Rodney Keener had 15 points, while Gatling added 14 points.

Sellers believed that Gatling’s shot in the closing seconds was the key to GC&SU’s eventual victory.

“(Gatling’s) four point play was the turning point in the game, or as key a play as we had,” he said.

Feb. 5

Who ever coined the phrase “Everything that could possibly go wrong, does go wrong,” can definitely identify with both basketball teams at Georgia College & State University.

Both the Bobcats and Lady Bobcats were swept by USC-Spartanburg at the Centennial Center Wednesday night, with USCS winning the women’s game 73-59, while the Rifles edged the Bobcats 67-65 in the nightcap.

Women

Dalana Watson opened the night by shooting a trey to give the Lady Bobcats a 3-0 lead. But it would quickly go downhill from there, as USCS would go ahead for the first time on a lay-up by Kia Manuel with 15:18 left in the first half, making the score 15-13. After a Betsy Farmer jumper gave the Lady Rifles (9-10, 3-8) a 17-13 edge, a three pointer by Breane Haggard trimmed the margin to 17-16 with 14:31 remaining. USCS then led 24-18 with 10:27 to go before GC&SU (11-9, 5-7 PBC) scored six unanswered points in a span of 2:22 to even the score at 24-24. Then a lay-up by Larkin Cleaveland gave the Lady Bobcats their last lead of the night at 26-24 with 7:40 left in the first half. USCS then turned around and built a 33-29 lead, before GC&SU rallied to tie the game at 35-35 with 2:58 to go. However, the Lady Rifles scored the final five points of the first half to lead 40-35 at halftime.

Things went from bad to worse for the Lady Bobcats in the second half, as a three point shot by Farmer early in the period gave USCS a 43-35 lead with 19:37 remaining. GC&SU narrowed the Lady Rifles lead after the Lady Bobcats put together a 9-1 run to make the score 45-44.

But the Lady Rifles widened their lead to 53-46 with less than 13 minutes to play, and then all but put the game out of reach when the officials assessed Lee a technical foul with 12:10 left, making the score 55-48. USCS then responded with an 8-0 run to make it a 63-48 contest. GC&SU could never get the gap below 14 points the rest of the way, as the Lady Bobcats suffered their fourth loss in their last five PBC games.

Head Coach John Carrick believed the intensity of the Lady Rifles contributed to the loss.

“They were quicker to loose balls, and were more aggressive defensively, and they shot the lights out in our gym,” he said. “(USCS) just flat out played us, out shot us, out everything.”

Watson, who was honored at halftime of the men’s game for scoring her 1,000th point of her career against Armstrong Atlantic State on Jan. 29, proved to be one of the few bright spots in the loss, leading the Lady Bobcats with 20 points. Lee was the only other GC&SU player to reach the double-digit mark, finishing with 14 points.

Men

The men’s game got off to a sluggish start for the Bobcats, as the Rifles (13-6, 7-4 PBC) jumped out to a quick 16-1 lead within the first six minutes, with the only point in that span coming on Duke Gibbs made free throw.

GC&SU finally scored its first field goal of the game on a three-pointer by Rodney Keener with less than 14 minutes to go. The Bobcats would never get closer than nine points for the rest of the first half, as the Rifles took a 37-28 advantage into intermission.

GC&SU woke up in the second half, as the Bobcats rallied to tie the game at 54-54 with 8:55 to go. GC&SU finally grabbed the lead on Keener’s jumper with 6:42 to play in the contest, taking a 59-56 lead. Another jumper by Keener gave the Bobcats what would prove to be their last lead of the night at 61-56 with less than five minutes to go. Then the Rifles rallied to grab a lead they wouldn’t let go, thanks to a trey by Kevin Harrington with 2:39 left.

The Bobcats had one last chance at the victory with 1.9 seconds left, but couldn’t managed to get the shot off as time expired, handing USCS the win.

Head Coach Terry Sellers thought the Bobcats slow start hurt the team in the end.

“We dug ourselves a hole at the beginning of the game,” he said. “(USCS) played real well, and we didn’t seem to be ready to go early on. The guys fought back really hard, and gave ourselves a chance to win. We just didn’t make the plays at the end that we needed to.”

Keener led the Bobcats in scoring with 26 points, followed by Johnnie Stafford with 17 points. But GC&SU hurt its chances down the stretch by shooting just five of 15 from the free-throw line. An over-reliance on the long-distance shot also killed the Bobcats, as they finished eight of 25 from three-point range, compared to five of 10 shooting for USCS.

Both GC&SU teams must now regroup for the stretch run, as the five of the final seven Peach Belt Conference doubleheaders will be on the road, starting with Saturday’s games at UNC Pembroke.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 7 2003. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry