SGTC Jets finish second in NJCAA Region XVII Tournament against Georgia Highlands

March 14, 2017
South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Travis Garrett and Assistant Coach Chris Ballauer are shown above with the 2016 – 2017 Jets with the NJCAA Region XVII runner-up trophy.

Rome, GA – The South Georgia Technical College Jets finished the 2016 – 2017 season in the NJCAA Region XVII Tournament finals, but they fell shy of unseating the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association top-ranked Georgia Highlands College Chargers and earning the right to advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.
“We finished the season strong,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Travis Garrett after his team dropped a 99 – 80 decision to the sixth ranked National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Georgia Highlands Chargers in the tournament finals in Rome, Georgia. “I am very proud of the team for not giving up. We went from seventh to second. We had some challenges but we kept playing and were able to finish the season as the NJCAA Region XVII runner-ups for 2016 – 2017.”
This is the first time that South Georgia Tech Jets head coach Travis Garrett has advanced to the NJCAA Region XVII finals in his two seasons with the Jets. His team advanced to the quarterfinal round in 2015 – 2016 and finished the season at 15 – 16.
The Jets finished the 2016 – 2017 regular conference season in seventh place with a 5 – 11 record but upset the second place Gordon College team in the quarterfinals to advance to the semi-final round in Rome. South Georgia Tech defeated Albany Tech 84 – 63 in the semi-finals. Then the Jets advanced to the finals but dropped a 99 – 80 decision to Georgia Highlands. That left the Jets with a 13 – 20 overall record.
Sophomore Andre Kennedy led the Jets in scoring in the Region XVII tournament finals with 22 points. He also came away with five rebounds. Freshman forward Marquel Wiggins also had a good game with 18 points and two rebounds. Bobby Jackson added 13 points and Jalen Thomas closed out the double-digit scoring with 12 points. Tre’Von Teague had four points, Michael Boone, Pat Welch, and Derrick Trawick all had three points each and then Davion Clark closed out the scoring with two points.