Georgia College & State University men’s basketball starts the season 4-3 with one of the toughest schedules in recent years.
GCSU kicked off the season with an exhibition game at the University of Georgia. Senior Christian Koneman led both the scoring and the rebound efforts with 22 and nine respectively.
Georgia College doesn’t play at home until Dec. 15 with the lengthy road schedule. The Bobcats kicked off the regular season by taking on the host team in the North Greenville Classic. The blue and green picked up the 85-78 win the first for first-year head coach Ryan Aquino. The sharpshooter Richard Crawford III led the scoring knocking down 16 points and going 3-for-5 from behind the three-point arc. Brandon and Koneman led the rebounding effort with five apiece.
The Bobcats capped off their run in the North Greenville Classic with a 67-63 win over Limestone University. The Bobcats ran away with the game in the first half with five and a half minutes to go.
The big forward Austin Sloan led the scoring efforts for the Bobcats with 15 points. Luke Chism had a superb game nailing a double-double as he banked 13 points and nabbed 12 rebounds.
Chism went 4-for-6 from field goal range and shot for 100% from behind the three-point arc as well as from the free throw stripe. The Bobcats hit the road once again to take the tough Tuskegee University where they were edged 49-48 for the first loss of the young season. There were no double-digit scorers but Sloan, Koneman, and Thomas all netted nine points to lead the offense.
Koneman also led the rebounding effort nabbing 12.
Then GCSU played in the Clayton State Classic, the Bobcat’s second tournament of the season.
Georgia College took down Emmanuel College in an overtime thriller.
Crawford drew a foul in the final seconds of the game and banked both of his free throws to give the Bobcats the 73-71 win. Crawford was the second leading scorer with 19 with Koneman leading the scoring by a three-point bucket as he knocked down 22 points.
Koneman also nabbed a double-double corralling 10 rebounds.
GCSU capped off the Clayton State classic with an 81-67 loss to Newberry College. The Bobcats led going into the half, but the Wolves are an amazing second-half team who shot for 50% behind the three-point arc to give them the second-half win. Chapin Rierson and Koneman led the scoring with 13 points apiece. Thomas led the rebounding with six all of which came under the NC basket.
Georgia College rounded out the first six games in a competitive contest with No. 2 nationally ranked Lincoln Memorial University.
LMU picked up the 61-54 win in the final minutes of the game. The Bobcats led for 90% of the game then the Rail-splitter’s shooters heated up at the right time. Suwanee native Brendan Rigsbee led the scoring effort with his career-high of 16 points going 2-for-3 from the three-point arc. Koneman and Rierson nabbed eight rebounds apiece to lead the effort.
The Bobcats continued to stay on the road and bounced back from a tough loss at LMU with a win over Anderson University. GCSU took the 68-59 win with three players netting doubledigit points. Chism led the scoring with 13 points in his first game back from injury he also led the rebounding effort with seven. Rierson and Thomas rounded out the double-digit scoring with 11 apiece. Koneman and Rierson were the secondleading rebounders with 12 between the two of them most of which came under the Trojan Basket.
“I think the season is going really well,” said Crawford when asked about the season.
“Coach Aquino has been preparing us really well by scheduling us tough opponents early in the season that will allow us to play our best basketball later during conference play. As the season progresses, I’m really looking forward to seeing our team at full strength and looking forward to showing a lot of people because before this season nobody was expecting us to be a top PBC team that we all know we are capable of being.”
The Bobcats are back in action Saturday, Dec.10 to kick off conference play at Young Harris College.
Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.