January 14, 2010 - South Georgia Tech sweeps Albany Tech with the men winning, 85-73, and the women prevailing, 80-42, Wednesday night in NJCAA Region XVII action.
Sylvester Patterson has seen the good a team full of freshmen can do. Now, he’s seeing the bad.
Patterson, Albany Tech’s head coach, and his band of freshmen were South Georgia Tech’s sixth victim in a row Wednesday at The Hangar, losing, 85-73, to drop to 0-3 in NJCAA Region XVII. “We’ve dug a hole,” Patterson said. “I’ve got 10 freshmen and they’re starting to show it.” Without sophomore guard Wilbur Lake, who was suspended two games for making contact with a referee, the Titans (8-11) went cold from 3-point land, hitting just 3-of-18. Lake, who averages three 3s a game, has been sorely missed in the last two losses.
“We’re not shooting the ball very well,” Patterson said. “We’ve been missing Wilbur Lake because he makes a big difference spreading the floor.” South Georgia Tech (10-7, 2-0 Region XVII) took advantage of its deep bench, outscoring Albany Tech, 36-10, off the bench. Jets’ guard Rearkus McCrory scored a team-high 18 points, 12 coming in the second half against a short-staffed Titans lineup.
“I went 10 or 11 deep and (Patterson) only wanted to go about seven or eight deep (on the bench) and eventually it kind of wore them down,” South Georgia Tech coach Steven Wright said. The Titans tried to overcome their perimeter deficiency by going to big man Jerry Lewis inside. And for a while, it worked. Lewis poured in a game-high 22 points and pulled down seven boards, repeatedly using a spin and drop step to score in the paint.
Lewis was actually once a member of Wright’s Jets team before leaving the school several years ago, eventually ending up at Albany Tech. He did all he could Wednesday to remind his former school of his play. “I wanted revenge, but we couldn’t quite get it,” Lewis said. “They’ve still got to come see us (Feb. 3 in Albany).” Albany Tech took a 33-32 lead with 2:35 to play before half on Duran Blue’s layup, but it would be the Titans’ final advantage. South Georgia Tech’s Dominique Hadley, who finished with 13 on the night, scored nine straight points in the second half to give the Jets a 68-56 lead with 8:27 to play. By that time, the SGTC defense had smothered Lewis inside, forcing Albany Tech to fire away unsuccessfully from the perimeter.
“We tried to go to the well (inside to Lewis), but they started crashing down and we had to kick it out,” Patterson said. “We had the shots, we just didn’t make them.” The Titans got 14 points and 10 boards from Dominique Polite in the loss. Albany Tech travels to Waycross College Saturday for a 4 p.m. tipoff, while the Jets host Georgia Perimeter at 4 p.m. Saturday.
g SGTC WOMEN 80, Albany Tech 42: Albany Tech’s team did manage to outscore SGTC’s Deatric Smith, 22-18, in the second half. Of course, the rest of the Lady Jets proved to be too much along with Smith, who poured in a game-high 24 points. Lady Jet Ophelia McMath went for 21 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks as South Georgia Tech, which led just 30-21 at the half, improved to 15-4 overall, 2-0 GJCAA Region XVII.
ATC (8-6, 0-3 region) got 13 points and 10 boards from ex-Worth County star Ann Wilcher, but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the Lady Titans’ 25-percent shooting from the field and 36 turnovers. ATC finished the night with a 1:6 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Lady Titans look to rebound Saturday at 2 p.m. when they cross town to take on Darton College. SGTC hosts Georgia Perimeter at 2 p.m. Saturday.