SGTC Jets lose to second ranked South Georgia State in overtime in the NJCAA Division 1 Region XVII quarterfinals

March 2, 2016
South Georgia Tech’s Rico Simmons (5) sank two free throws with .02 seconds in regulation to send the game into overtime in the NJCAA Region XVII tournament quarterfinals against South Georgia State in Waycross.

Waycross, GA – South Georgia Technical College freshman guard Rico Simmons stepped up to the foul line with .02 seconds on the clock and sank two free throws to tie the game at 57 – 57 against the second-seeded South Georgia State College team and send the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Region XVII quarterfinal tournament game into overtime in Waycross Tuesday night.

“We played hard and we put ourselves into a position to upset South Georgia State, but we just couldn’t execute in the overtime period,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets first year head coach Travis Garrett, after the Jets dropped the 73 – 65 overtime decision to the Hawks of South Georgia State College.

South Georgia State College entered the NJCAA Region XVII tournament as the number two seed in the conference. The win against South Georgia Tech was Hawks’ coach Corey Baldwin’s 200th victory as a head coach. He and his team will now advance to the NJCAA Region XVII semi-final round. They will face the third-ranked Central Georgia Tech squad at 5:30 p.m. in Rome, Georgia. The top-ranked Georgia Highlands team will face off against the fourth seeded Chattahoochee Tech team at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. The two winners will advance to the finals to determine the NJCAA Region XVII champions in a 4 p.m. game Saturday in Rome.

South Georgia Tech and South Georgia State were neck and neck throughout the regulation game Tuesday night. The score was tied at 32 – 32 at the end of the first half and despite trailing by as many as eight points in the last five minutes, South Georgia Tech was able to tie the game at the buzzer with Rico Simmons’ two free throws.

Sophomore Clarence Smith was the leading scorer for the Jets with 16 points and he was followed by Corbyn Jackson with 15 points. Rico Simmons was next with 13 points and Demario Beck closed out the double-digit scoring with 11 points. Smith, Simmons, and Beck were all named to the All-Region teams for their play during the regular season.

Pat Welch scored seven points for the Jets and Matt McMorris was the only other Jet to score with three points.

The leading scorer for South Georgia State was Tyrone Sam with 26 points. Karim Mawuenyega and Russell Keyhea both added 13 points to lift the Hawks to their 200th win for Coach Baldwin.

The Jets finished the year with a 15 – 16 overall record and a trip to the NJCAA Region XVII quarterfinals under first year head coach Travis Garrett.