Jets fall to South Georgia State in NJCAA Region XVII semi-finals
Macon, GA – The South Georgia Technical College Jets gave it a good run but fell five-points shy of advancing to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XVII finals when South Georgia State College took an 82 – 78 victory in the NJCAA Region XVII tournament semi-finals at Central Georgia Tech in Macon on Friday, March 13th.
South Georgia State College advanced to the finals after defeating South Georgia Tech and wound up facing Central Georgia Tech for the opportunity to advance to the next level. South Georgia State came away with a narrow 75 – 74 victory to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, March 21 – 28.
The South Georgia Technical College Jets entered the NJCAA Region XVII tournament as the number three seed behind Central Georgia Tech and South Georgia State. The Jets defeated sixth seeded Albany Tech in the quarter-final round, 60 – 59, to move into the semi-finals. South Georgia State defeated Georgia Highlands 72 – 62 to advance. Central Georgia Tech secured a 75 – 65 win over Southern Crescent in the quarterfinals and then captured a 71 – 64 win over Gordon College to advance to the finals.
In the South Georgia Tech – South Georgia State College semi-final match-up, the Jets were up 40 – 39 at the end of the first half. South Georgia State came back in the second half and outscored the Jets 43 – 38 to capture the 82 – 78 victory.
Sophomore Jalexs Ewing of Augusta was the top scorer for the Jets and he had 21 points. He fouled out in the second half. Only two other Jets were in double digits and they included freshman of the year Guillaume Schoentgen with 13 points and Jarius Davis who finished with 11 points.
Clark Mastin added eight points, Marc Ferdy and Ilich Yacaman both tossed in seven points, and Marcellus Myles accounted for five points. South Georgia State held Matt Mbole and Dwight Brown to only three points each. Mbole did lead the team in rebounds with 11 and Marc Ferdy was close behind with 10.
South Georgia State’s Trey Callaway and Jeremy Anderson were the top scorers for their team with 24 and 20 points respectively.
South Georgia State went on to capture the NJCAA Region XVII Tournament title with a 75 – 74 win over Central Georgia Tech in the finals and advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas for the second year in a row.
The SGTC Jets ended the season with an 11 – 5 and a 16 – 16 record on the season. Jets head coach Chris Ballauer completed his 5th year as the helm of the Jets and has a 76 – 81 record. He did advance to the NJCAA National tournament in his first year as a head coach. Since that time, the Jets have finished the regular season in second, seventh, fourth, fourth, and third in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA).