After heartbreaking road loss, MGTC men level season series with West Georgia Tech

mbrown@sunmulti.com

Middle Georgia Technical College and West Georgia Technical

College are bringing a men’s basketball rivalry from the technical school

league to the NJCAA.

The two teams split their GCAA meetings for the current

2012-13 season, West Georgia Tech winning in Carrollton Jan. 19 on a basket at

the buzzer 90-89.

Bobby Brown’s Titans controlled the rematch held in Warner

Robins on Friday 76-67.

“We’ve always had blood between us,” said Brown about the

series with the Golden Knights. “We beat them a couple of years ago to win the

(conference) championship. It’s been personal with them ever since. We should

have won there, and I’m glad we got a win here.”

In that first encounter, Middle Georgia Tech was in firm

control as time was running out. However, two misses from the free throw line

denied Brown’s team a chance to widen the margin.

“They went down for a last-second shot,” said Brown. “They

missed, and we got the rebound. But when Dwayne Bryant came down, (officials)

said he traveled. That left one second on the clock. They tipped (a shot) in

and won. That was a heartbreaker because we were undefeated (in GCAA Div. III),

the only undefeated team.”

Southern Crescent is actually the conference leader with

MGTC after having beaten West Georgia Tech earlier. The Titans destroyed

Southern Crescent in Griffin and will host that team on Feb. 6. Before that,

Brown takes his club to Emory-Oxford today (Jan. 30).

Brown’s roster for Friday’s game was down to nine players

due to a knee injury to Jeffery Gulley, who did not play in the other WGT

contest. Dublin guard D’Meco Rozier had 22 points to pace the Titans. Albany’s

Darrell Anthony, starting in Gulley’s place, did a double-double with 15 points

and 13 rebounds.

Bryant added 11 points and Richard Yancey 10.

The Titans had the first significant lead, 12-7, with a fourth-chance

basket scored by Bryant. He also had an assist in the opening half to Anthony.

As the Knights brought the margin down to one, Rozier used a screen to find

Bryant for a jumper and one of his four assists.

As West Georgia Tech surged ahead by two, 16-14, at 11:27,

Marcus Walker made a great steal and Kevin Simmons, a Kentucky native,

recovered a blocked shot to tie the game. Simmons next put back his own missed

attempt. He wasn’t finished as he stole the basketball and threw an assist on

the run to Rozier.

To go ahead 24-18, MGT controlled the glass with a put-back

from Anthony and Bryant’s steal and score from a Knight rebound. But Rozier’s

3-pointer was the final scoring by the home team in the first half while the

Knights worked for 10 points to go into intermission up 28-27.

Prior to the Rozier 3, the Titans missed two in a row from

long range. WGT scored two times in transition as Middle Georgia Tech kept

turning the ball over while trying to make passes in the zone to Bryant. It was

27-26 Titans at 3:41 when Simmons blocked a fast-break attempt.

The go-ahead score, however, came on the run at the 1:13

mark.

The second half was all Titans beginning with a 7-0 run.

Walker sunk a 3 and Rozier took a rebound outlet all the way in. The visitors

didn’t score until 16:55, but MGT answered with five more in a row, Rozier

tipping in a 3 miss and Anthony sinking a trey (39-31).

Rozier had to work to keep possession of a steal and found

Yancey for 3. With the score 48-43, Rozier had to use similar efforts to

maintain the basketball and make a flip assist to Bryant.

With an open 3 and put-back, West Georgia Tech was down only

three at 56-53. The Titans scored the next six, and Rozier had two more steals,

one that brought an intentional foul.

At 3:07, another 3 for the Knights had the score 66-60. With

two turnovers by the Titans, WGT added 3 more for 66-63 at 2:33. That’s when

reserve Devonte Smith stepped forward with two penetration baskets to go with

key defensive rebounds in a 9-2 that sealed the victory.

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