Jets defeat Wallace State Lions and Lady Jets fall to nationally ranked Shelton State Lady Bucs

The South Georgia Technical College Jets posted an 82 – 73 overtime victory over the Wallace State Community College Lions in the second half of the Jets Holiday Basketball Classic in the Hangar Sunday. However, the 16th ranked Lady Jets were not that fortunate when they met the 12th ranked Shelton State Lady Bucs and fell hard in an 85 – 43 contest in the Lady Jets Classic.
“Shelton State played their best game of the season and we played our worse,” said South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “Now we have to regroup and try to come back and beat a very good Eastern Florida team on Monday.” The loss to Shelton State ended a 13-game winning streak for the South Georgia Tech Lady Jets who are now 13 – 2 on the season.
In other action Sunday, the Shelton State Bucs finished the Jets Holiday Classic portion of the tournament as the only undefeated men’s team after defeating St. Petersburg 72 – 65. That game was followed by the Jets win over Wallace State. In the women’s games, Eastern Florida defeated Georgia Highlands, 101 – 58 and the nationally ranked 9th place Gulf Coast Lady Commodores took a 59 – 33 victory over the St. Petersburg Lady Titans.
Shelton State’s men defeated the South Georgia Tech men in a come from behind victory on Saturday. Wallace State lost to both St. Petersburg and South Georgia Tech to end the tournament at 0 – 2. South Georgia Tech’s men and St. Petersburg’s men both wound up 1 – 1. St. Petersburg rolled to a 75 – 65 win over South Georgia Tech in their Saturday match-up.
After St. Petersburg pulled that come from behind victory away from South Georgia Tech on Saturday, the Jets refused to lose and came back to finish 2018 with an 82 – 73 overtime victory over Wallace State and go into their 2019 conference schedule with a 4 – 10 overall record.
The Jets fell behind as many as 10 points in the first half but managed to cut that deficit to 30 – 25 by the end of the first half. The Jets were up by as many as 12 points before Wallace State bounded back to tie the game at 66 – 66 at the end of regulation play. Jets Justin Johnson had a chance to ice the game for the Jets with 7.5 second remaining but missed two free throws and forced the game into overtime.
However, the Jets took charge in overtime and outscored Wallace State 16 – 7 to take the 82 – 73 victory away from an 8 – 6 Wallace State team. Justin Johnson ended up the leading scorer for the Jets with 23 points but it was the play of freshmen point guard Jaylan McKinney and freshman guard Nick Cummings off the bench that sparked the Jets to victory. McKinney played aggressive defense, displayed stellar ball handling, and timely shooting. He ended the game in double figures with 12 points, two rebounds, and six assists. He was six of eight from the foul line and three of seven from the field. Cummings was perfect on the night hitting five of five from the field and one of one from the foul line to post a total of 11 points.
Freshman Jeremy Johnson had a good night as well with 18 points. He was five of 11 from the three-point line, one of two from the foul line and six of 14 from the field. Sophomore Adonis Green was two of three from the field, one of one from the three-point line and one of one on the foul line to finish the night with seven points and five rebounds. Sophomore Jonathan Tchuisse also posted seven points for the Jets. Brice Paster added three points and Sam Matice closed out the scoring with one point, six rebounds and two blocked shots.
Demarkus Lampley was the top scorer for Wallace State with 27 points. Markise Davis and Zion Williams had 11 points each for the Lions. In the Shelton State vs. St. Petersburg game, Imoras Agee was the top scorer for Shelton State with 22 points and Gary Jefferson led the St. Petersburg Titans with 21 points.
“This was a good win for us,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Travis Garrett. “We finished 2018 with a win and now we have some momentum going into our conference schedule with begins on Wednesday when we travel to Macon to face Central Georgia Tech.” The Jets and and Lady Jets both play in that doubleheader with the Lady Jets opening at 5:30 and the Jets following at 7:30.
While the Jets closed out the year on a high note, Lady Jets head coach James Frey is hoping he can do the same thing after watching the wheels come off against a very good Shelton State game. “Everything they shot went in and we just couldn’t buy a basket,” said Frey. “They did a great job of defending and pushing us up and down the court. Now, we have got to put that one behind us and come back and play like I know we can.”
The Lady Jets shot 27% from the field, was six of 16 from the foul line and only hit three three-pointers all night with 21 attempts. In contrast, Shelton State hit 45% of their shots hit 30% on their three points and were 85% successful from the foul line. The Lady Jets only post double-figures in the fourth quarter. They were held to nine points in the first quarter and eight points in the second and third quarters. Shelton State racked up 17, 24, 23, and 21 points in its four quarters of action.
Not a single Lady Jets was in double-figures. Freshman guard Rio Yamazaki led the team in scoring with eight points, Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din and Bigue Sarr both accounted for seven points, Amar Edeh added five points and Oumy Gueye had four points. Sophomore Ricka Jackson and freshman Kamya Hollingshed were both held to three points, and Mari Hill, Fatou Pouye, and Anna McKendree each came away with two points.
The Lady Jets women’s classic will close out on December 31st with nationally ranked Gulf Coast and Shelton State opening up at 2 p.m. and the South Georgia Tech Lady Jets taking on Eastern Florida at 4 p.m.

Nick Cummings, 11, is shown going up for a dunk for the Jets in the win over Wallace State.