In a battle of size versus speed, it was a group of Mustangs running wild at home that proved to be too much for the Crown College Crusaders Tuesday night as they fell on the road to Georgia Northwestern, 75-64.

Southeast Whitfield alum and second-year Mustang, Isaiah Tibbs ran the point guard position with authority as he led the team in scoring with 18 on the night. Second-year Mustang, Bilal Weems dropped in 13.

All-region players from last year’s prep ranks, Kyle Wilson (Armuchee) and Perie Finley (Chattooga) both cleaned the nets for ten points a pop.

Georgia Northwestern is a two-year program which faced off with the four-year Crown College from Powell, Tn. “We were just fortunate that a four-year school would take this game on their schedule,” said Georgia Northwestern Mustang Head Men’s Basketball Coach, David Stephenson.

The Mustang squad which is full of prep all-stars from the region has had their court presence described as ‘controlled chaos.’ “We have worked very hard on making sure we are ready to play 40 full minutes on both sides of the ball,” said Stephenson. “Ultimately, I told the guys that it was going to be their size against our quickness. They were disciplined and slowed the ball down. We used our speed and they couldn’t match up.”

As the game began to get out of control in the final six minutes, the Mustang press was visibly becoming a problem for the Crown College (3-5) offense. “We pressed and ran the whole time,” said Stephenson.

“There were two periods late in the game when they got tired of the press. The effect of the run and gun took its toll on them two different times.”

Stephenson has a connection to Crown College by way of the administration at the Tennessee College. Crown Athletic Director, Ken Turner was one of Stephenson’s high school basketball coaches when he was a player at Tennessee Temple in the 80’s.

Georgia Northwestern will play one last home game at the RAC this Saturday at 3 p.m. before wrapping up December with a TCSG Conference road trip.

Stephenson’s Mustangs made news in its inaugural season in 2007 by going undefeated within the TCSG Conference making it one of only three teams out of the more than 1,700 participating on all levels of collegiate basketball to complete a perfect season. Last season, Georgia Northwestern won its first game over a four-year program versus Hiwassee College from Madisonville, Tn.

Mustangs (75) - Davis 8, Isaiah Tibbs 18, Kyle Wilson 10, Bilal Weems
13, Finley 10, Moore 8, Perry 8, Koneman.

Crusaders (64) – Loney 2, Hickman 4, Matt Stranka 18, Houston Sherrod
17, Dan Johnstone 12, Pete Davidson 11, Scoggins, Stover.

Halftime Score – 36-30, Mustangs