Southern Crescent holds off late rally to win first GCAA DIII Championship 96-90
OXFORD, Georgia – The Southern Crescent Technical College men's basketball team captured its first ever championship with a 96-90 victory over West Georgia Technical College in the GCAA D-III Men's Basketball Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon.
The win breaks a string of three-straight Region 17 championships from the Golden Knights. WGTC lost despite. Junious Prowell led the Tigers with 30 points while Richelieu Hayes and and Devonte Curtis came off the bench to score 18 and 17 points respectively.
It took a valiant effort from Southern Crescent to hold off a second half Golden Knights rally lead by an a 37-point effort from WGTC's Martize Spearman in an entertaining up-and-down-the-court affair.
It was a game of runs - with the most important one being Southern Crescent's big start which forced the Golden Knights to play from behind the entire game.
Down by as much as 20 in the second half, West Georgia Tech never gave up, and was within three points on two different occasions in the final minute.
Southern Crescent took control of the game early, racing out to a 22-4 lead. The Golden Knights chipped away at the lead and got to within eight points, at 28-20, but a late first half surge by the Tigers gave them a 41-28 lead at intermission.
The Tigers extended their lead to 20 early in the second half, 54-34, with 14:45 remaining. But the Golden Knights chipped away again, and managed to get to within five, 66-61, with 8:13 left. Southern Crescent scored seven-straight points over the next minute to extend its lead back to 12, at 73-61.
WGTC closed to within 6 – 77-71 – with 4:55 left but another Southern Crescent surge pushed the Tigers back in front 84-71.
Then the Knights closed to within three on two occasions in the final minute of the ballgame, but could not get the key turnover – or missed free throw - they needed to close the gap.
Southern Crescent moves on to the District Tournament, where it will have a chance to play for a berth in the D-III Men's Basketball Tournament Championship.
