Down by just three points at halftime on Friday night, the Georgia Northwestern Bobcats pulled to within a single point of visiting Georgia Gwinnett College with eight minutes to play. However, the Grizzles would go on one final run to end the Bobcats' season with an 84-69 loss at the Rossville Athletic Center.
The first half would be tight as the two teams were tied seven times and exchanged the lead eight times before the Grizzlies went into the locker room up 41-38.
The visitors would employ more of an up-tempo pace in the first seven minutes of the second half and the Bobcats would have trouble keeping up.
Georgia Gwinnett would open up a 10-point cushion with
13:19 to play, but a technical foul on the Grizzlies seemed to give the home team new life.
A 3-pointer by Tyler Phillips and a lay-up by Davantae Kimble jump-started a Bobcat run as they trimmed the Grizzlies' lead to 65-64 with eight minutes remaining.
The deficit was three points at 67-64 with 6:25 to go when the wheels began to come off for the home team. They would turn the ball over on three straight possessions as the Grizzlies took advantage with what would be the decisive run. They would push their lead back out to 10 with 3:35 to play and were never threatened again.
Cole McKeehan had 15 points and five rebounds for the Bobcats, while Justin Smith added 11 points. Phillips had 10 points and 15 boards for his fifth double-double of the year and J.T. Langford went for nine points and seven rebounds.
Five points each from Jay Wideman and Daniel Parrish and four from Traydal Autry would round out the scoring.
The Bobcats finished the season with a 4-19 overall record.