COCHRAN, Ga. - Stillman College men's basketball won its fourth-straight game Saturday and closed out an undefeated Southern States Athletic Conference weekend in Georgia with an 81-75 win at Middle Georgia State University. Stillman is tied for the SSAC lead at 2-0 through the first week.
The Tigers trailed most of the first half until
Antonio Jones assisted a Marcus Bates Jr jumper and stole the ball from Jayce Moore to set up his own fast-break layup for a 17-15 Stillman lead. Middle Georgia fought back to lead 32-29 at halftime.
Trailing by 10 points, 50-40, with 15 minutes to play, Stillman clawed away at the Knights' lead. Four
Justin Minter free throws and a Jones steal and layup made it a two-possession game. Moments later,
Khalil Johnson hit a 3, followed by a
Bailey Talley layup and a 3-pointer to pull within a basket, 56-54 with 10:47 to play. Middle Georgia maintained its lead until 6:37 left in the game when Minter tied it with a layup.
Brenden Lankford-Johnson gave Stillman 66-64 lead with 5:15 to play, part of an 8-2 rally for Stillman. Another Jones layup and 7-of-10 shooting from the free throw line in the final three minutes secured Stillman's win.
Five Tigers scored in double figures and two players narrowly missed double-doubles. Jones scored a season-high 16 points and had nine assists for the second-straight game. He also had six rebounds. Lankford-Johnson and Talley each scored 15 points, while Minter scored 14 and Johnson finished 10.
Bates led Stillman with 10 rebounds, and scored eight points, missing his third-straight double-double. Bates finishes the week with 48 points and 32 rebounds with an average of 16 points, 10.6 rebounds
Stillman shot 51.8% from the floor and 69.6% from the free throw line.
Middle Georgia was led by Brice Martin's 20 points and 11 from each Andrew Preston and Jayce Moore.
Stillman (4-2, 2-0 SSAC) concludes a six-game road swing over the last three weeks and will play at home for the first time this season on Wednesday, Nov. 29 when it hosts the University of Tennessee Southern (5-2, 2-0 SSAC) at 7:30 p.m.
