Cleveland, Rice perform well at Lake Weiss Tournament

Senior guard Desmond Mitchell-LaFlam (New Smyrna Beach, Florida) had 17 points, seven boards and five assists, while classmate Brice Booker (Atlanta) came off the bench to score 16, including 6-for-7 from the line to help ice the game late. Freshman and former Calhoun High standout Chapin Rierson tallied 11 points, while sophomore Garrick DeBowles (Marietta) added 10.

The Bobcats outshot the Lions 57 percent (35-62) to 44 percent (23-52) from the field. Emmanuel got back in the game with advantages in threes made (10-6) and free-throws made (30-19).

Waters leads GNTC with 12

For a little more than a half, the young, freshman- dominated Georgia Northwestern Bobcats were standing to toe- to- toe with an older, more experienced and very athletic West Georgia Tech squad.

But a cold- shooting second half, including one long dry spell in particular, would prove to be their undoing on Saturday.

The Bobcats managed just 22 points in the final 20 minutes and the visiting Golden Knights pulled away to win the game against former region rivals, 73- 51, at the Rossville Athletic Center.

Georgia Northwestern ( 2- 3) led early on by a small margin, but the Knights would battle back to gain the 36- 29 lead at halftime.

Their lead was down to a five at 38- 33 three minutes into the second half when the drought began. Save for three free throws, Georgia Northwestern would not get a basket to drop until there was 9: 27 left in the game when Jay Wideman hit a three.

In between, the Knights would get backto- back 3- pointers from Justin Brown and Isaiah Greer to jump- start a decisive 16- 3 run. Wideman’s triple finally broke the drought, but not before the visitors from Carrollton had mushroomed the lead to 54- 36.

Two straight baskets by former Sonoraville High standout Bryce Waters would whittle the gap down to a dozen points, but the Bobcats would get no closer as the Knights slowed pulled away down the stretch.

Three players scored in double figures for West Georgia Tech ( 3- 2), led by San Rozier’s 18 points on 7- of- 9 shooting. Joe Boyer went for 14 points, while Greer came off the bench to score 12.

Waters had 12 points and seven rebounds to pace the Bobcats, while Tyler Phillips collected 11 points. Micah Wheeler was next on the list with six, followed by Deontae Jackson with five.

“We just don’t have the guys yet with the experience to have the mental discipline to carry out the game plan for 40 minutes,” head coach David Stephenson said.

“Against a team like ( West Georgia Tech), you have to that for 40 minutes. Tonight, we did what we had to do for about 25 of those 40 minutes. But until we grow up and do better at that, it’s going to be tough in games against teams like this one.”