GOLDEN EAGLES CAPTURE 2010 TCSGAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!
Chattanooga, TN - Saturday, February 27, 2009 – The Chattahoochee Technical College Golden Eagles did the unthinkable on Saturday night at Tennessee Temple University in winning the Technical College System Athletic Association men's state basketball championship in its first season of competition. CTC fought off an athletic and energized Middle Georgia Tech, to beat the Titans 97-78, and claim the Title.
After breezing past West Georgia Tech in the qualifying round on Friday, 110-70, the Golden Eagles began preparing for the Titans.
"We took care to prepare for WGTC before Friday's game, but knew we had to do the same to get ready for Middle Georgia," said Assistant Coach Keith Lundy, "so we got up early on Saturday and watched game film of our regular season road game at MGTC – a game in which we had a tough time with them."
The Titans played CTC very tough in Perry on February 6th, as the Golden Eagles escaped with a wild and exciting 98-90 victory, a stark contrast to the January 16th match up when CTC blew the Titans away 117-70 in Cartersville. The championship game was shaping up to be a great match up.
"We were fully expecting Middle Georgia to be a challenge for us, with their athleticism and ability to knock down perimeter shots," added Coach David Archer. "We made a point to concentrate on eliminating the mistakes we made when we faced them in Perry back in early February."
The Golden Eagles fell down early in the championship game, as Middle Georgia came out strong behind a turnaround jumper and a three-pointer by Jeremy Bradshaw. CTC was having trouble putting the ball in the hole in the opening minute and quickly saw themselves down by scores of 7-3 and 9-5. But, after shaking off the 'championship game' jitters, the Eagles' offense started clicking. Courtney George and Ishmael John got off midrange shots to tie the game at nine, triggering a 14-0 run that saw CTC race out to a 19-9 lead. During the run, Robert Broderick began finding spots in the lane to get open and he connected on three of the baskets that allowed the Golden Eagles to establish that the Titan were going to have to play off of more than just adrenaline.
The Eagles built a 14-point spread at one point in the first half, as Broderick and Omarr Prewitt continued to dominate the paint. Sandwiched in the offensive success was a nice basket and foul drawn by Richard Davis, which put CTC comfortably up 40-25 with several minutes remaining. But, behind the advantage of being in the bonus and getting four free throws from Jacques Clarington, as well as, two big treys by Mike Ingle, the Titans re-surged and closed the half on a strong 12-4 run, to trim the score to 44-37 at the intermission. Of concern at the half was looming foul trouble for several Golden Eagle players, such as Jarmond Bailey who had three fouls, along with two each for George, Prewitt and Jeff Hawkins.
With sights set on a Championship, the Golden Eagles came out of the locker room on a mission to play a solid final 20-minutes to the 2009-10 season. The offense flowed through Prewitt right out of the half-time and he responded with two baskets and a free throw, helping CTC push back out to a double-digit lead. But, complacency set in and MGTC was not going to go down without a fight, as Brandon Whitehead scored 10 straight points and single-handedly cut the CTC back down to nine points. After a timeout, the Golden Eagles regrouped. MGTC began having trouble against a swarming Golden Eagle defense, turning the ball over and missing a series of tough shots, which turned into easy offense on the other end. The open court opportunities played into the strengths of George, John and Broderick, who combined for the next 25 of the Eagles next 28 points scored. In the stretch, George two long bombs, John repeatedly drew fouls and converted, while Broderick was running the floor and on the receiving end of nifty open court passes from his teammates. CTC built a seemingly comfortable 23 point lead, at 75-52.
CTC's foul troubles at the break did not come into play, but in the Titans efforts to slow the Eagles down, their own foul count began to mount. They eventually saw three of their players foul out of the game, while CTC capitalized by getting whopping 29 free throw attempts in the second half and 45 total for the game. Down the stretch, Prewitt and John provided the scoring punch to keep the Titans at bay, allowing the Golden Eagles to glide to the TCSGAA Championship. Mission Accomplished!
Whitehead led MGTC with 20 points, while Ingle finished with 19 and Clarington 11.
For Chattahoochee Tech, Broderick turned in his best performance of the season with 28 points and 10 rebounds. For his efforts, he was named the CTC Championship Game MVP. Prewitt pounded in 22 points and snatched 17 rebounds, while John tallied 19 points and George 14.
At the conclusion of the tournament, Prewitt and John were named TCSGAA All-Tourney Selections and the Golden Eagles were presented with Championship plaques for the claiming the 2010 TCSGAA Regular Season title, as well as, the 2010 TCSGAA Tournament Championship.
#14 Robert Broderick #45 Omarr Prewitt #4 Ishmael John
Championship Notes: In the title game, CTC shot 57.1% from the field on 32-of-56 shots. While only shooting 3-of-11 from beyond the 3-point line, 64.4% of shots inside the arc were made (29-of-45). The Golden Eagles went undefeated during the 2010 TCSGAA Conference schedule and finished with a 27-7 overall record. While averaging over 95 points per game on the season, CTC scored 90 or more points 20 times and broke the 100 point barrier on 10 occasions. Peaking at the appropriate time, five of the season's 100-point outbursts came during the final month of the season. Chatt Tech extended competition boundaries by hosting two international teams during the early part of the season by playing Martinique, from the French Antilles Islands, as well as, a team from the country of Estonia.
#10 Courntey George #4 John looks to shoot #14 Broderick scores
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