Fugh sets new Bobcat mark in win over Hiwassee
The Georgia Northwestern Bobcats once again slipped back to .500 on the season following a 106-78 loss to the Tennessee Wesleyan junior varsity team in Athens on Monday.
The Bulldogs took a 46-39 lead after a tight first half, but the Bobcats got their press going once the second half began and were able to score four straight points to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to three in less than a minute.
But the home team would get hot. They went on an 29-7 run over the next 10 minutes to boost their lead to 75-50 with nine minutes to go and the Bobcats never recovered from the blow.
Georgia Northwestern shot 53 percent from the floor for the night, but couldn’t overcome 60 percent shooting by the Bulldogs in both halves, including a 7-for-13 performance behind the arc in the final 20 minutes.
The Bobcats also hurt themselves with 28 turnovers.
Darius Flier had 25 points for the Bulldogs, followed by 23 from Yasmond Fenderson and 22 by Cody McClain.
Darrius Fugh had 23 points and five boards for the Bobcats. Demonte Parker had 10 points and seven boards, while Alec Rattanaxay had 10 points and four assists.
Other contributing efforts including Daniel Parrish with nine points, Darius Floyd with eight and Micah Wheeler with seven points and six boards.
The last time the Georgia Northwestern Bobcats faced Hiwassee College back on Jan. 24, the Navy-and-Silver couldn’t hold on to a halftime lead and dropped a 95-88 decision to the Tigers in Madisonville, Tenn.
Thursday night at the Rossville Athletic Center, the Bobcats found the right formula.
Sparked by a solid defensive team effort, and a record-setting offensive performance by Fugh, Georgia Northwestern picked up its 11th win of the season with a 78-67 triumph.
The Bobcats (11-10 overall) jumped out to a 20-11 lead eight minutes into the game, but a dry spell would allow the Tigers to go on a 10-3 run to pull to within a basket, 23-21, with 7:30 remaining in the opening half.
However, Fugh ended the drought with a 3-pointer and the Bobcats went to work with the press. The defensive change jump-started a run that featured some buckets in transition, including an Rattanaxay feed to Fugh for a monster alley-oop slam, that would help give the home team a 3829 advantage at the break.
Continuing the full-court press to begin the second half, the Bobcats increased their lead to as many as 16 points in the first five minutes.
Hiwassee would briefly pull back to within 10 of the lead, 55-45, with just over 11 minutes to go, but two more threes by Fugh and continued defensive pressure would force numerous turnovers as Georgia Northwestern pushed their lead back out to 16 with seven minutes to play.
After scoring 19 points in the opening half, Fugh added 20 in the second half and finished with 39 points, bettering by one the previous record of 38, originally set by Bobcat Hall of Famer Kyle Wilson against Freewill Baptist College back in 2010.
Fugh was 9-of-11 on 2-point field goals, 4-of-8 on 3-point field goals and 9-of-10 at the free throw line to cap his record-setting night. He also threw in nine rebounds and two steals for good measure.
Rattanaxay and Patrick Simmons went for 13 points apiece. Rattanaxay made all three of his field goal tries and was 6-of-8 at the charity stripe. He added five boards, six assists and four steals, while Simmons connected on four 3-pointers. Parker came up big by taking four charges during the game.
NaeQuon Newman and Kobe Clisby had 18 points each for the Tigers, while Toure Fudge finished with 15.
The Bobcats and Lady Bobcats were scheduled to make their road trip of the season on Monday at Southern Crescent Tech, but due to newspaper deadlines, results were not available as of press time.
Both teams will be in action at home on Thursday (Feb. 16) as Georgia Northwestern hosts the Covenant College JV teams at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Boy and Girl Scout Recognition Night at the Rossville Athletic Center.
It will be the final regular season game for the year for the Lady Bobcats, while the Bobcats will close out the slate on Saturday at home against Warren Wilson College at 3:30.