Carrollton – Already a game of numbers, sometimes a particular statistic tells you all you need to know about a basketball game. That was the case here Tuesday for the West Georgia Wolves.
UWG dropped a heartbreaking, 89-80 overtime loss to the fourth ranked Augusta State Jaguars. In the process the Wolves missed a whopping 18 free throws.
Those numbers equated to game over for UWG coach
Michael Cooney. “We had the game in our hands at the free throw line,” said Cooney. This could have easily been a 10-point win if we had just made our free throws. But we didn’t.”
There is no disputing that UWG had its chances to win a game that saw 10 ties and 18 lead changes. The Wolves led by four, 73-69, with 29 seconds remaining as
Deion Sims reversed his team’s trend by dropping a pair of clutch free throws.
From there, it took Augusta State 11 seconds to cut their deficit to 73-71 on a layup by seven-footer Garret Siler. Then, the Jaguars’ Steve Smith stole the inbounds pass and fed to Fred Brathwaite, who was fouled. Two free throws later the game was tied with 12 seconds to play.
On their final play, Sims took the inbounds pass, penetrated, but missed a 10-foot runner at the side of the lane as time expired.
The overtime period, unfortunately, belonged to Augusta State. The Jaguars won the tip, then Smith fed Siler for a short bank shot, and ASU had a lead it would never relinquish.
Four West Georgia players post double figure scoring games. Sims led the Wolves with 20, followed by
John Pringle and
Doug Daniels with 17 each, while
Chris Miller-Williams notched 13. Pringle paced UWG on the boards with nine rebounds. Also, the Wolves shot very well for the night, hitting 29-of-57, 50.9%, despite a cold one-of-six in the extra period.
Augusta State also placed four players in double figures, paced by Siler with 24. The Jaguars’ center also was the game’s top rebounder, pulling down 13 in front of a quartet of NBA scouts who traveled to Carrollton to watch him play.
Tuesday’s loss dropped West Georgia to 2-6 on the season. Augusta State, last year’s runner-up in the NCAA Division II Tournament, improved to 2-0.
The Wolves return to action here Saturday, hosting Clayton State in a 7:30 contest. West Georgia dropped a 78-62 decision to the Lakers in their November 20 meeting in Morrow.