WEST GEORGIA TECH ADVANCES TO DISTRICT 7 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WITH 110-97 VICTORY OVER NO. 7 SANDHILLS C.C.
WEST GEORGIA TECH ADVANCES TO DISTRICT 7 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WITH 110-97 VICTORY OVER NO. 7 SANDHILLS C.C.
WENTWORTH, North Carolina – The West Georgia Tech Golden Knights are one win away from a trip to upstate New York for the NJCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championships.
Seeded fourth in the four-team field here at the District 7 Tournament, WGTC shocked top-seeded and 7th-ranked Sandhills Community College, the defending national champions, 110-97 Friday night to advance to Saturday’s championship game.
The victory is being billed the biggest win in the history of the West Georgia Tech athletics program.
West Georgia Tech has now won seven straight, including three in a row in the Region 17 Tournament two weeks ago, to move its record to 18-15. Sandhills finished its season at 25-7.
“I said before the game that if you wanted to play an up-tempo style against us, that we were fine with that. That’s how we like to play,” said WGTC head coach Niki Okolovitch. “We never slow down. Our practices in the off-season are filled with conditioning drills with the heat turned up in the gym. Our guys run and condition themselves on their own. That pays dividends this time of year. It carried us tonight.”
West Georgia Tech will play Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute out of Hudson, N.C. in Saturday’s championship. Caldwell Tech (22-10), seeded third, easily defeated No. 2-seeded Anne Arundel (Md.) 104-75 in Friday’s other semifinal game.
Sandhills came into the game averaging a nation-best 100.7 points per game, but tonight West Georgia Tech was the better offensive team. The Golden Knights shot 55.8 percent from the field (43-of-77) and 5-of-10 from three-point range.
The Golden Knights were led by Randazerro Chaney and Alyja Hennings who eached scored 25 points. Hennings was 11-of-13 from the field. Victor Wynn had a pretty good game himself, scoring 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
“We played good team ball,” Chaney said. “These boys played hard. I told them that I was here last year and that we could win these ballgames, we just needed to share the ball and play hard. We did that tonight.”
Kermeriaz Harrington led the Flyers with 21 points.
West Georgia Tech held Sandhills to 45.9 percent shooting from the field and just 8-of-28 from three-point range.
After trailing 45-43 at halftime, the Golden Knights outscored Sandhills 67-52 in the second half.
West Georgia Tech trailed for much of the first half and well into the second half. WGTC took a 68-66 lead with 12:43 remaining, a lead it would never relinquish.
With 10:00 remaining the Golden Knights led 78-71. They stretched the lead to 10 at 82-72 with 8:02 left and the Flyers would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
The Golden Knights were plagued with foul trouble for much of the second half. Jon Perry picked up his fourth foul two minutes into the second half which forced him to the bench. LaDamion Walker picked up his fourth with 10:00 minutes to go.
“Other guys stepped up in the moment,” Okolovitch said. “Particularly Shaun Monk. Shaun didn’t score a lot of points (11 points) but he really pushed the ball for us, he was good at the guard position and at the forward position, wherever we needed him.”
Caldwell Tech has won nine of its last 12 contests. One of those three losses was to Sandhills in the Region 10 Tournament Championship Game at the buzzer, 70-69.
“Caldwell showed that they like to full-court press, and sometimes we do well against it and sometimes we don’t,” Okolovitch said. “Caldwell has some natural shooters and that is something we’ll have to adjust to defensively.”
West Georgia Tech and Caldwell Tech will play at 3 p.m. Saturday, with the winner advancing to the NJCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y. March 14-16.