Saturday, December 4, 2004

#11 HORNETS WIN BARN-BURNER OVER SAINTS 91-89

Dahlonega, Ga. - In a game that saw eight lead changes, seven ties and a lead as high as 21, 11th ranked Southern Poly Technic State University held on to defeat North Georgia College & State University 91-89 Saturday night in men's basketball.

Both teams and fans were ready for a track meet in Memorial Gymnasiums and each were not disappoint. With the lead changing eight times in the first 10 minutes, neither team could take control of the ball game. With 8:44 left in the first half, senior guard Lamar Karim (Marietta, Ga.) swiped the ball from the Saints (5-3, 1-2) for an easy layup to even the score at 26-26. SPSU (11-1, 5-0) then went on a 7-1 run and increased their lead to 33-27 with 4:42 left to play in the half. The Hornets then went on another run to increase their lead to 10 with 34 seconds left to play in the first half. Saints sophomore guard Matt Causey (Gainesville, Ga.) made his first bucket of the game as he hit a big three pointer with 22 seconds left to play and cut the SPSU lead to 46-39 at the half.

As the second half began, the Saints had no answer for Hornets junior guard Matt Kuhns (Mahomet, Ill.). Kuhns made three baskets from behind the arc in a ten minutes span to give SPSU a 21 point lead with 10:52 left in the game. North Georgia picked up speed again with nine minutes left to go when senior forward Matt Cunningham (Buford, Ga.) and sophomore forward Mark Trust (Winder, Ga.) made two huge blocks for North Georgia. With the momentum, the Saints slowly worked their way back into the game until they were down 90-88 with 40 seconds remaining in the game. With less one second left in the game, Causey was fouled and put on the line. After sinking the first he intentionally missed the second, but the Saints were unable to recover the ball as time ran out on their comeback.

The Hornets were paced by Karim and senior guard Jan Zalud (Czech Republic) who each had 18 points a piece. Junior guard Mark Causey (Gainesville, Ga.) led the Saints attack with 22 points and senior guard Bryce Brickhouse (Norcross, Ga.) scored 21. Both teams struggled from the free throw line as SPSU shot 68% and North Georgia shot only 66% from the charity stripe.

The Hornets game is at home against Davenport College in two weeks on December 21 at 5:00 pm. The Saints will take the week off for finals and play again at home on December 13 against Emmanuel College at 8:00 pm.

Box Score

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