COLUMBUS, Ga. --The Georgia Southwestern men's basketball team won their third straight game on Wednesday night after trailing by as much as 15 points in the second half. The Hurricanes started hot, scoring the first seven points of the game and holding a lead until three minutes left in the first half. The Cougars went into the halftime break leading by three after trailing for most of the first half.
In the second half, the Cougars broke it open building a 15 point lead with just 13 minutes left in the game. The Hurricanes, led by Kahlon Whitley, brought it within five with 2:49 left in the game but the Cougars built the lead back up to nine with just 2:14 left. Columbus State held a six-point lead with just 27 seconds left in regulation and the Hurricanes were staring down the barrel of a Peach Belt road loss. A Kahlon Whitley three brought it with three. Columbus State inbounded the ball and the Hurricanes forced a turnover with 18 seconds on the game clock to give them a chance to take it into overtime on the final possession. A missed GSW three was rebounded by Jarrett Adderton with two seconds left, Adderton grabbed the rebound and got his feet behind the line for a three-point attempt at the buzzer. Adderton's shot didn't fall but a foul by Columbus State's Langston Gaither sent Adderton to the free-throw line for three shots, down by three, with 0.4 seconds left. Jarrett Adderton despite the crowd noise and the pressure, made all three free throws to force an overtime that seemed unlikely for much of the game.
GSW went into the overtime period with all the momentum and all the confidence after battling back from 15 points down. The overtime period was a physical five minutes with GSW starting the overtime with a Kone block on one end and a Jarrett Adderton three on the other. Columbus State matched the GSW three-pointer with their own two minutes later in overtime. Jonathon King on the next possession got to the free-throw line and made one of his two shots at the line to give GSW a one-point lead. Once again after two possessions with neither team finding the basket, Columbus State tied the game with 1:40 left in the contest. A Devon Higgs block on the defensive end gave the Hurricanes the ball, Kahlon Whitley on the other end was able to find Devon Higgs who hit a three-pointer with 26 seconds left to take a 70-67 lead. The Hurricanes held strong forcing a missed three and securing the rebound and their come from behind victory.
The Hurricanes will head to Young Harris College on Saturday for their second matchup between the two teams this week.
