Warner Robins collapses late against Northgate for fourth straight loss on Day 2 of Screamin’ Demon Invitational

WARNER ROBINS — Warner Robins (4-8) hoped to avoid a fourth straight loss as they took the floor against Northgate (3-4) on Day 2 of the Screamin’ Demon Invitational, but a late collapse let the Vikings off with a 60-55 win in overtime.

The Demons are 1-6 in their last seven games and slow starts have doomed them in several. They were down 20 at halftime the previous night against Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy and they trailed by 11 against Long County at the Houston County Bear Brawl.

Things finally changed on Saturday with Warner Robins jumping out to a 7-2 lead early and holding a 28-27 advantage at halftime.

Northgate put on late runs in the first and second quarters, but the Demons manufactured their own to close out the third and take a five-point lead into the final period.

But they were scoreless from the 2:17 mark of the fourth to the final 40 seconds when Tristan Warren added two to the total for the first time in nearly five-and-a-half minutes. Warner Robins was outscored 12-5 in the last six minutes of game time, and all five of those points came in the final 40 seconds.

“We started fast and I guess we got tired in the middle of the game. Now if I don’t start fast then we gain energy towards the end. I got to figure that part out,” Demons head coach Jamaal Garman said. “I know our execution is down right now. Way, way down. We’re not executing our offense and it shows badly when we’re trying to call a timeout and run plays. It’s just not clocking right now for a couple of guys that we’re really depending on.”

The most glaring area, outside of not executing called plays, was finishing at the rim. Warner Robins was aggressive getting there all night and had more than plenty of opportunities to put something in the basket. But whether it rolled off, hit the side of the rim or sailed completely over they just couldn’t find the bottom.

There is no clear answer for the Demons right now, and with the Holidays on the horizon Garman plans to reset and approach it when they come back with a fresh mindset.

“The first thing I’m gonna do is take a break from them. I’m going to just get away for a little while,” Garman said. “I’m going to reset myself, because the second half is the most important half of the season…I just gotta reset. Reset, refocus on what it is that I want from them. And when we come on the 29th for practice…what I want is going to be pushed in practice.”

“But right now man, it’s just the basketball IQ just isn’t there…There’s not enough basketball that’s been played,” Garman continued. “You got all this training going on, everybody can kill a cone, but if you go just play a pickup game of basketball they don’t know how to do it…It’s rough, but growing pains hurt, and this one hurts real, real bad.”

UP NEXT

Warner Robins will get back to the hardwood for their last non-region game before region season on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 6 p.m.

Northgate has one last contest this year against M.L. King on Saturday, Dec. 27 at 2:30 p.m.