SGTC Jets defeat Albany Tech in NJCAA Region XVII Tournament Quarterfinals

Albany Technical College had a chance to upset the South Georgia Technical College Jets with a last second shot, but it failed and the Jets held onto a narrow 60 – 59 victory to advance to the NJCAA Region XVII tournament semi-final round on Friday at 8 p.m. in Macon.
The third-ranked South Georgia Tech Jets faced off against the sixth seeded Albany Tech Titans in one quarterfinal round while South Georgia State took on Georgia Highlands and secured their spot in the semi-final round with a 72 – 62 victory. South Georgia Tech and South Georgia State will play the 8 p.m. game Friday night at Central Georgia Tech in Macon.
In the other semi-final bracket, Central Georgia Tech will play Gordon College at 6 p.m. Friday. Central defeated Southern Crescent 75 – 65 in the quarterfinal round and Gordon took an 83 – 75 win over East Georgia State to advance. The winner of the two semi-final games will meet in the finals at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 14th in Macon.
The Jets did not play well in their first tournament outing. They shot 12 of 27 from the free throw line, only made 4 of 21 three-point attempts and 22 of their total 59 field goal attempts. That equated to a 44% free throw percentage, a 19% three-point success rate and only 37.3% of their total shots.
Albany Tech was not much better. They made six of 14 free throw attempts, five of 18 three-point shots and 24 of 58 field goals. Albany Tech committed 24 personal fouls and SGTC had 18 in the 40-minute contest.
The Jets scored first and were up by as much as nine points (17 – 8) early in the first half, But then with 3:52 remaining in the first half, Albany Tech pulled ahead 30 – 28 and extended that lead to go into halftime with a 35 – 31 advantage.
The Jets came out in the second half and whittled away at that lead and were able to go up 41 – 40 with 15:08 remining in the game. They were able to maintain a lead until Albany Tech pulled ahead 53 – 52 with 5:05 showing on the clock.
South Georgia Tech rallied and regained a narrow lead until Albany Tech scored with 27.3 seconds remaining to pull ahead 59 – 58. SGTC sophomore guard Jalexs Ewing scored with 15.3 seconds remaining to allow the Jets to regain the lead and capture the 60 – 59 victory and advance to the NJCAA Region XVII semi-final round.
Ewing was the only Jets to reach double-figures in that defensive battle. He had a total of 19 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double night. Sophomore Ilich Yacaman followed with nine points and he was the only Jet with a perfect free-throw shooting record. He was four-for-four.
Freshman guard Jarius Davis and sophomore forward Marc Ferdy contributed seven points each. Freshman point guard Clark Mastin tossed in six points, and sophomore center Matt Mbole only had five points and 10 rebounds. Dwight Brown came away with four points and Marcellus Myles closed out the scoring with three points.
Albany Tech had two players in double-digits. Tyler Husband led his team with 18 points and Nicholas Durham followed with 17 points.
The SGTC Lady Jets will host the women’s NJCAA Region XVII tournament beginning Thursday, March 12 at 6 p.m. They will host East Georgia. Albany Tech and Central Georgia Tech’s women’s teams will match-up at 8 p.m. Thursday in the other semi-final game. The winners will advance to the finals at 6 p.m. Friday, March 13th at SGTC. The winner of that game will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Lake Charles, LA, March 24 – 31.
And while the Lady Jets hope to advance to the NJCAA Region XVII Tournament final round, the Jets will be at Central Georgia Tech in Macon battling South Georgia State College in the men’s semi-final round. The Jets have lost to South Georgia State twice this season, 78 – 53 in the first match-up and then 63 – 54 on February 18th. Central Georgia Tech and Gordon will play at 6 p.m. Friday, March 13th in the other half of the bracket. The winners will advance to the finals on Saturday at 4 p.m. The championship team will advance to the NJCAA men’s National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, March 21 – 28.