Manatees Exploit Georgia Highlands Cold Spell, Pull Off Huge Road Victory
Rome, GA – Georgia Highlands controlled the game basically from the start. They built a twelve point lead 7 minutes after the tip. There were only 3 ties and one lead change. That lead change, however, was not in the Chargers favor.
Leading 77-72 with 4:35 left in the game, a Jarrel Rosser triple put the GHC up eight. But the Chargers would not find the bottom of the net again until they trailed 84-80 with :47 to play.
During that four minute stretch, Georgia Highlands missed four threes and two lay-ups. At the other end of the court, State College of Florida quietly ran off fourteen straight.
Two Charger FT’s by cut the deficit to two, but a few seconds later, a Harraway FT extended the Manatees advantage to three, 85-82, which became the final score.
Highlands took two timeouts in the last :17 seconds to draw something up. And it almost worked. Using Rosser as a decoy, Brandon Barron got free in the right corner getting a decent look on a step back three, but the shot hit the back iron and the Manatees got their 6th win to go with 2 losses.
James “Pop” Weathers led the way for the Manatees popping in 22 points on 7-11 FG and 8-10 from charity stripe. Sixteen of those coming in the second half. Kwo Agwa and Clarence Cummings, III, each added 14. Cummings getting the double with 11 rebounds, all on the defensive end.
State College meets #5 Chipola Saturday in the Corral at GHC.
The Chargers top gun was Jarrel Rosser who finished with 16. Chris Wright and Jayvis Harvey both tallied 13. TJ Porter was a beast on the boards nabbing 16. The Chargers next game is also with Chipola, but they’ll have to wait until Sunday to get their chance at #5.
