With the lead changing back-and-forth multiple times in the final 10 minutes of Saturday’s NJCAA Region XVII game with Emory-Oxford College, Georgia Northwestern could not get a basket to fall in the waning moments as the visiting Eagles would top the Cats, 64-58.
Emory-Oxford’s Kevin Tolbert would lead all scorers in the home matinee with 19 points. Freshman Bobcat Quinton Cotton (Rome, Ga.) would lead all Georgia Northwestern scorers with 14 points in the home loss. Making another impressive showing for the Cats was freshman Hunter Ivester (Trion, Ga.) with 13 points, four steals, three blocks, and three assists.
The Eagles (16-6, 3-2) would come out of the gate on fire opening the day with a 13-0 run in the first six minutes of play.
The Cats would manage to cut the deficit to nine at the intermission, 32-23. Two separate rallies in the second half by Georgia Northwestern would see the contest knotted up at 41-all at the 10-minute mark and then again at 53-all with just five minutes to play.
Defensive efforts by the Cats kept things close late in the game. Leading the way with eye-popping effort was sophomore co-captain Bud Todd (Trion, Ga.) with seven blocks on the day. The Bobcats would reject 15 Eagle shot attempts in the region loss. “We know how to play catch-up pretty well,” said Georgia Northwestern Technical College Men’s Head Basketball Coach David Stephenson. “But, we need to come out of the gate strong and not play from behind anymore.”
A bit of history went down on the Bobcat hardwood with nine minutes to go in the game as NJCAA All-Region and All-District first-teamer Alex Miller (Calhoun, Ga.) would drop a shot from the field giving him six total points Saturday. More importantly, although it was one of the lowest outputs of his career, Miller’s shot at the nine-minute mark would put him atop Georgia Northwestern’s all-time scoring record.
Miller now stands at 646 points for his two-years with the NJCAA Region XVII program. His mark topples the former record holder Kyle Wilson. Wilson (2009-11), an Armuchee, Ga., product, managed to basket 644 points in his two-years with the program before moving on to Berry College and the Viking hardwood in Rome, Ga. Miller and the Bobcats still have five more regular season games to play, as well as the NJCAA Region XVII post-season tournament in Warner-Robbins, Ga., on Feb. 22-24.
Georgia Northwestern (7-15, 0-6) next plays in Macon on Tuesday night against Macon State. The game all eyes are on now is next Friday in LaGrange, Ga., as the Cats and Lady Cats travel to battle rival West Georgia Tech in a region turf battle just two weeks before the post-season tournament.
The Bobcats are a member of NJCAA Region XVII, the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association, and a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia. For more information on Bobcat Athletics, contact the Georgia Northwestern Office of Sports Information at 706.764.3813 or e-mail to dfoley@gntc.edu.
Georgia Northwestern (58) – Quinton Cotton 14, Hunter Ivester 13, Todd 5, Miller 6, Reyonlds 7, Olsen 6, Johnson 4, Dempsey 3.
Emory-Oxford (64) – Freeman 2, Gilmore 2, Lee 6, Pat Burns 17, Kevin Tolbert 19, Kim 5, Zach Carlson 13.
Halftime Score:32-23, Emory-Oxford