Bobcats fall to four-year schools
After falling to the Bryan College JV team, 86-53, back on Jan. 9, the Georgia Northwestern Bobcats were ready for the rematch back in Rossville last Monday night.
Trailing at halftime, the Bobcats rallied to take the lead in the second half. However, they couldn’t hold on to it as the Lions hit four late free throws to pull out a 73-66 victory.
Bryan (5-7) led 3327 at intermission, but Georgia Northwestern would open the second half on a 9-1 run, using back-to-back baskets to take a 36-34 lead with 17 minutes to play.
The Bobcats were able to hang on to the lead until the 4:41 mark when Bryan regained a 57-56 advantage and they would stretch that lead out to six with 1:12 to play.
Davantae Kimble would hit a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left, cutting the Lions’ lead down to 69-66. But the Bobcats would be forced to foul and the Lions would hit their shots down the stretch to pick up the victory.
Kenyon Mills had 28 points for Bryan, while Desmond Sales added 14.
J.T. Langford scored 20 points, marking the second straight game that the former North Murray product has gone over the 20-point mark. Jay Wideman had 17 points, followed by Daniel Parrish with nine and Kimble with eight. Tyler Phillips had seven points and grabbed 15 rebounds, while Cole McKeehan added five points.
Oxford College 87, Ga. Northwestern 70
A big night on the perimeter by Phillips kept the Bobcats within striking distance of visiting Oxford College for most of the day on Saturday. But the balanced scoring of the Eagles was ultimately too much for the home team to overcome in a loss at the Rossville Athletic Center.
The two former NJCAA Region XVII members exchanged the lead five times in the game’s first 12 minutes. However, Oxford’s Ryan Kwong would connect on two straight 3-pointers to put his team in the lead and the Eagles would remain there the rest of the game, although they were never able to truly pull away.
Kwong, who finished the game with 16 points, went 4-of-6 from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes as Oxford (10-10) built a 45-31 lead at the break.
Georgia Northwestern (3-14) would cut the Eagles’ lead down to 10 points twice in the second half, the final time at 68-58 with just over seven minutes to play, but the hosts would get no closer.
Robert Wainio matched Kwong with 16
points. Eric Lee had 15 points and Seb Mosso went for 11 to help his team.
Phillips went 7-of10 from long range as the ex-Coahulla Creek Colt doubled his season average (14.4 points per game) with a new-season and career-high of 29. Wideman continued his impressive run of recent games, pouring in 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Langford had 11 points.
The Bobcats will be back in action on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. home game against the Covenant College JV squad. The two teams met earlier this season with the Scots holding serve at home with an 80-71 victory.