Best in the west
The GCSU men’s basketball team extended its winning streak to 11 games at home this past Wednesday, defeating North Georgia 88-84.
The Bobcats came into the first half playing aggressive and quickly took the lead over the Saints. Even though North Georgia continuously made up any points gap, GCSU was able to maintain a slight lead.
As the half progressed, the Bobcats began to increase the advantage. With less than a minute remaining in the first half, GCSU earned its first double-digit lead when sophomore forward Ryan Aquino sank a 3-pointer to set the score at 50-39. Right before the half was over, North Georgia made a 3-pointer and the first half ended with the Bobcats leading 50-42.
When the second half began, GCSU remained aggressive and kept control throughout the second half. However, with time winding down, the Saints began to catch up. Even though North Georgia stepped up its game, the Bobcats never gave up their lead and the game ended with the final score of 88-84.
Senior guard Graham Martin was the leading scorer for the Bobcats scoring 20 points. Martin was 3-of-10 on field goals including 2-of-6 on 3-pointers and 12-of-13 on free throws.
“I feel really good that we got the win, but I don’t think it was one of our best games,” Martin said. “We haven’t lost a game (in the Peach Belt) to this point and it’s really easy to think you can just show up and the win’s going to take care of itself and they gave us a really tough challenge.”
Prior to their victory against North Georgia, the Bobcats were at home to face Francis Marion in a 71-61 victory that extended GCSU’s winning streak to nine games.
The Bobcats secured an early lead in the first half. They stayed in their state of aggressiveness and remained in control as the first half progressed. The Bobcats secured their greatest lead in the half of nine points when junior forward Josh Hurst sank a 3-pointer that set the score at 18-9 with 10:47 remaining.
Even though the Patriots came close to catching up several times, they were unable to take the lead a single time during the first half, which ended with GCSU leading 35-29.
GCSU began adding to their six-point lead when the second half began. Staying aggressive on both sides of the court allowed the Bobcats to secure their first ten-point cushion when a layup by senior forward Robert Thomas with 13:24 remaining set the score at 48-38.
Not letting up, the Bobcats continued to spread the point gap when Martin made two free throws that gave GCSU a 14-point lead with the score at 54-40.
For the remainder of the second half, the Bobcats were able to maintain a double-digit lead and defeated Francis Marion 71-61.
GCSU’s leading scorer was Martin, who put a total of 24 points on the Bobcat scoreboard. Martin was 7-of-15 on field goals, including 2-of-4 on 3-pointers and 8-of-8 on free throws.
“We’re definitely headed in the right direction,” Martin said. “We had a couple hiccups, if you will, earlier in the season but since conference has started we’ve just been getting better and better every game so I think the sky is the limit for us now.”
“I was happy with the way we came out in the second half,” senior point guard Ty Rowland said. “We already had the lead, some people can settle with the lead but we decided to run up the score which helped us out a lot.”
GCSU claimed its ninth straight victory this past Sunday as it defeated UNC Pembroke at home with a score of 82-50.
The Bobcats wasted no time in securing the lead and spreading the point gap over the Braves. With 13:51 remaining, Hurst sank a 3-pointer to secure a ten-point lead and set the score at 14-4.
GCSU continued to dominate and increase their point cushion as the first half progressed. With five seconds remaining in the first half, Martin nailed a 3-pointer to secure a 19-point gap with a score of 39-20 going into halftime.
When the second half began, the Bobcats quickly seized their first lead over 20 points when a 3-pointer by Aquino gave GCSU a 42-20 lead.
With 15:20 left, the Bobcats pushed the point gap over 30 points when Thomas drained a layup to make the score 59-28.
From there, GCSU continued to dominate, which gave the players on the Bobcat bench an opportunity to step out on the court.
The Bobcats remained in control and kept their large lead and GCSU earned the big win over the Braves.
Martin was again the high scorer with 17 points in a short evening of work.
The Bobcats are at home this Saturday as they face Clayton State at 3:30 p.m.
“You can’t do a whole lot (of preparation) right now because the guys have been playing a lot of games,” head coach Terry Sellers said. “We’ll come in and brush up on some stuff and hopefully have great energy against a very dangerous Clayton State team this Saturday.”
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