Just like those in the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern
Conferences, the college basketball season at Middle Georgia Technical has
moved into conference-play mode. The Titans will still have a few non-league
games for the final month of the regular campaign, but some games, like the two
contested last weekend, carry weight in the GCAA Division III standings.
On Jan. 11, Middle Georgia Technical won at Southern
Crescent 88-43 in the first conference match-up. The Titans returned home and
dominated Georgia Northwestern of Rome at home 107-62. In Saturday’s game, nine
of the 10 players on the team scored with Dublin’s D’Meco Rozier leading the
way with 20 points.
Marcus Walker had 18 points, 15 in the second half when MGTC
had 61. Jonathan Morine of Albany made three first-half 3-pointers and ended up
with 17 points.
Middle Georgia Tech’s men improved to 11-8 overall after
Monday’s come-from-behind non-conference home win, 94-83, against Chattanooga
State of Tennessee.
Rozier scored all 19 of his points Monday in the second
half, going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and 3-for-6 in 3-pointers. The
Titans trailed Chattanooga State’s Tigers 46-39 at the half, and then Rozier
accounted for his team’s first 14 points with a neat up-and-down penetration
move and a 3-pointer for a corner spot.
All of his efforts brought Middle Georgia Technical within
one point, 51-50. Chattanooga State, with a noticeable size advantage up front,
missed at least five lay-ups in this same stretch. Six minutes into the second
half, Rozier sank another 3 for a tied game, 53-53.
Jeffery Gulley took over from there scoring 12 of his 15
points, starting with a three-point play. Richard Yancey’s 3 gave the Titans
its first lead, and Rozier’s final hit was an all-net trey for 64-59. Two more
field goals from Gulley – both assisted – stretched the home team ahead by
seven, 70-63.
Center Dwayne Bryant had the team high with 22 points, nine
in the second half.
Chattanooga State crawled back within one at 72-71. Devonte
Smith, the only substitute head coach Bobby Brown used during this comeback,
notched a key field goal. However, with 4:18 left, the Tigers surged ahead
75-74.
The Titans made eight free throws in a row as the game
neared an end. Smith, using fake moves, scored a second basket and Bryant, a
major factor on the defensive boards, tipped in a third-chance shot. In all, it
was a 14-0 run for Middle Georgia Tech and 88-75 edge.
Bryant, in addition to some key steals, had 11 rebounds.
Yancey had 19 points with three overall 3-pointers.
In the first half, Chattanooga State led by as much as 14.
Gulley recorded an athletic block, but the Tigers opened things with six
straight. Bryant created two turnovers, one time finishing off a break with a
pass coming from Walker. Yancey ran the floor and dished off to Bryant to bring
the Titans within three, 12-9.
Bryant, at 6-7, wasn’t done in the transition game. Off a
Gulley steal, he produced from his own dribbling moves (15-13 Tigers). As
Middle Georgia Tech’s outside game struggled, the Tennessee visitors scored 10
in a row to go up by 14, 28-14. The home team’s next field goal didn’t come
until 9:15 when Kevin Simmons attacked on the baseline.
Three times, Marietta’s Joshu’a Warren of the Tigers, all of
6-9 and 230 pounds, tried to tear down the backboard on dunks. It was an
11-point game when Yancey scored five, and at 2:05 Smith hit from 3 for 42-35.
Bryant also had four towards the end of the half.
“We went down to Albany Tech when they had their Christmas
tournament,” said Brown about the team’s other news over the last month. “We
didn’t do as well as I wanted to. We lost to Albany Tech by 10 and to South
Georgia Tech by six.”
Back at home, the Titans faced a junior varsity squad put
together by the merged Macon State and Middle Georgia College schools and won
78-73 in what Brown said was a hard-fought contest.
“Overall, we’re coming into our own,” said Brown. “I think
we are going to do well in the conference.
We have 10 players. Bryant has been playing well. Gulley is
playing well. The young man from Dublin, Rozier, has been playing extremely
well. Smith has stepped up. He was 3-of-5 from the 3-point line (vs. Southern
Crescent). Also, we’ve had good production from Morine.
“Yancey has been doing well at point guard, learning how to
run the sets and keep the tempo going. I feel comfortable with what we have.”
While these first two GCAA games were runaways, Brown said
the main conference challenge is going to come from West Georgia Technical out
of Carrollton. These clubs will play on the Warner Robins campus on Jan. 25.
West Georgia Technical had a 5-9 record, but like MGTC had a non-conference
schedule with schools of higher divisions.
“They are a disciplined team, tough competitors,” said
Brown. “They will give us some issues. We are going to have to buckle down and
play hard.”
The regular season concludes on Feb. 13 at home against
another of the Titans’ main challengers, Emory Oxford.
LADY TITANS
Perry High’s Ashley West remains the standard-bearer for
Middle Georgia Technical College women’s basketball. With her 20 points and
seven assists, the Lady Titans held off Chattanooga State Monday 70-58.
Kameelah Wynn registered a double-double from the frontcourt
with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Also up front, Northside’s Tyra Jackson said
eight.
The game was 48-44 for the home club in the second half,
5:15 on the clock. Jackson made a high-post jumper, and Ashleigh Burnett forced
a jump-ball whistle on the opposite end to gain possession for Middle Georgia
Tech.
West, while giving out assists, could take one as well. Wynn
threw her the ball inside, and West’s bounce and pivot upped her team’s lead to
52-44. West grabbed her team a second chance and found Jackson by herself in
the post (54-45).
Chattanooga State put six together to trail by three, but a
technical foul against the Lady Tigers – to go with a personal – sent MGTC to
the line for four shots with 2:02 left. West made three of the four and later
assisted a score for Burnett.
Still competing, Chattanooga State connected on two
3-pointers (63-58), but at the 38-second mark, West stole the ball and scored
out of a timeout.
The GCAA schedule didn’t begin well for the Lady Titans. On
Saturday, Georgia Northwestern won in the Warner Robins gym 51-49. West had 21
points and 13 rebounds, but her team missed 14 free throws and actually led
28-19 at the half.
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