The IRSC Men’s Basketball Team Split In Georgia

The IRSC Men’s Basketball Team Split In Georgia

The Pioneers traveled to Waycross Georgia for the Okefenokee College Classic hosted by South Georgia State College.  IRSC took on Andrew College for the second straight time in seven days.  On November 10th the Pioneers came away with a convincing victory at home 102-63.  It was much of the same on Friday night were the final score was 105-62.  IRSC took a 19-6 lead six minutes into the game on a Justin Tucker 3-point shot and went into half-time with a 53-30  advantage.  The Pioneers continued their hot shooting scoring 52 points in the second half with 10 of 11 players getting in the scoring column.  Leading scorers for IRSC were Kimani Binder with 19 points, Cedric Jackson 16, Anthony Brown 16, Deontae Weaver 15, and Justin Tucker added 11. 

Saturday afternoon the Pioneers took on the host team South Georgia State for their toughest contest of the year.  They managed to build a half-time lead of 39-28 with a balanced scoring attack.  IRSC was able to build on their lead in the second half to 63-43 with 9:53 to go in the game.  South Georgia State College reused to give up and narrowed the lead to 10, 65-55.  The Pioneers turned the ball over 3 of the next four possessions allowing the lead to dwindle to 67-63.  With 1:36 second Anthony Brown picked up his 5th foul on an offensive push off call sending IRSC's main ball handler to the bench.  South Georgia State made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 1 with 1:08 on the clock and then added a free-throw with 16.2 second to tie the score. The Pioneers had one more shot for the win, but committed a turnover, their 7 of the last 8 possessions.  With 22 second of the game remaining South Georgia State had one more opportunity for the win.  They took advantage of that opportunity and sank a 3-point shot with no time remaining on the clock.  The loss was the first of the season for IRSC dropping their record to 7-1.

Turnovers and missed opportunity were the biggest downfall for the Pioneers.  They turned the ball over 22 times for the game with the majority of them coming in the final 9 minutes of the game.  IRSC were only were able to manufacture two free-throws in the final 4 minutes of the game due to costly turnovers and missed free-throws.  "We had several opportunities to control the game, but we continued to turn the ball over and couldn't convert from the free-throw line," pointed out IRSC Men's Basketball Coach Charlie Wilson.  Cedric Jackson led all scorers with 27 followed by Anthony Brown with 10. Shaq Rombley pulled in a career high 15 rebounds in the loss.  IRSC will take the court on Tuesday November 21st for a 7:30 p.m. home start against Webber International JV.