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By Su Ann Bird

 

AMERICUS – The South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) Jets earned the opportunity to host a first round or quarterfinal game in the NJCAA Region 17 end of the season tournament.  The Jets finished the season in third place and will host sixth ranked Southern Crescent Technical College at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6^th in the hangar on the SGTC Americus campus.

The Jets, under interim head coach Chris Ballauer and assistant coach Jaren Harris, finished the regular season with an 11 – 5 GCAA conference record.  They are 13 – 9 overall.  This is the first time since the 2018 – 2019 season that the Jets have earned the right to host a game in the Region 17 tournament.

South Georgia Technical College split decisions against Southern Crescent in the regular season.  The Jets took an 85 – 81 victory over Southern Crescent in double-overtime on Saturday, February 27, but then lost a 70 – 67 overtime decision to the Tigers in Griffin on March 2.

Georgia Highlands won the GCAA regular season title with a 14 – 2 and 16 – 2 overall record.  South Georgia State College finished in second place (13 – 3 and 19 – 3) followed by the third place Jets (11-5 and 13-9).  Albany Tech finished in fourth place (10 -6 and 11 – 6).

In the first round of the tournament, Georgia Highlands will host eighth-ranked East Georgia State on Tuesday, April 6^th at 7 p.m. in Rome, Georgia.  Second seeded South Georgia State will host seventh-ranked Gordon State College at 7 p.m. that same night in Waycross.  South Georgia Tech hosts Southern Crescent at 6 p.m. in Americus and Albany Tech hosts Central Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. in Albany.

The winners of each of those matchups will advance to the semi-finals on April 9.  The semi-finals and finals will be hosted at the highest remaining seed on April 9^th and April 10^th.  Semi-final games will begin at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday followed by the championship game at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The winner of the Georgia Highlands – East Georgia State contest will play the winner of the Albany Tech – Central Georgia Tech game at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 9.  The winner of the South Georgia Tech – Southern Crescent Tech game will face the winner of South Georgia State – Gordon game at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 9 in the other semi-final game.