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Swamp Foxes defeat Coastal Georgia to take GCAA title

March 6, 2011

BRUNSWICK – Head coach Cory Baldwin and the Waycross College Swamp Foxes are the kings of GCAA basketball.

In front of a sellout crowd at Howard Coffin Gymnasium, the third seed Swamp Foxes (26-7) captured the GCAA Men’s Basketball Championship March 5 with a 68-62 win over the top seed College of Coastal Georgia Mariners.

“This is unbelievable,” said Baldwin.  “We completed a team goal and to know that we reached that goal through teamwork is such a great feeling.”

Rachard Lofton led the Swamp Foxes with 16 points, four rebounds, and three steals.  Reco Lewis finished with 13 points, three rebounds, and a steal.  Joe Williams had 11 points and four rebounds in the win.

With the gym split down the middle between Swamp Fox and Mariner fans, the game opened with WC once again finding itself in a hole.  The Mariners held the Swamp Foxes to two points in the first nine minutes while building a 10-2 lead. 

“That was tough,” said Baldwin.  “All three times we’ve played them this year, we’ve had bad starts.  Some of that is due to them while some of it is due to the pressure we put on ourselves.  We had some good looks but couldn’t make them.”

With so much at stake, Baldwin said he wanted to make sure his team stayed focused and made it a point not to become anxious.

“We really thought we were okay.  We didn’t go into a panic mode,” he said.  “We knew we didn’t dig a hole that we couldn’t get out of.”

The players seemed to feed off of Baldwin’s calm demeanor and applied the principles they had learned all season in practice to keep the game from quickly spiraling out of control.

“We stayed focused on what we could do to keep the game close,” said Lewis.  “We stayed together and kept telling each other that we believed in ourselves.  No matter if it was a timeout, loose ball, or a team huddle.  We believed.”

Williams acknowledged that the Swamp Foxes may have tried to force some of their shots to ignite a spark but that it helped when the team began to settle down.

“Things started falling for us,” he said.

WC would outscore Coastal 18-11 over the next 9:14 as a three-pointer from Jacob Mitchell cut the lead to 21-20 with 3:19 remaining in the half.

Coastal followed with a run of its own and extended the lead to 28-21 with 1:17 left on the clock.  After a last second foul by the Mariners, Richard Buford sank two free throws to end the half with the Swamp Foxes trailing, 28-23.

“I told the guys at halftime that we survived the first half and that we would be okay.  I told them we needed to play our game in the second half, and that’s what they did,” said Baldwin.

The teams continued to battle in the first two minutes of the second half.  A three-pointer by Lewis pulled the Swamp Foxes to within one again, 33-32.  Coastal managed to stretch the lead back to 42-36 over the next 5:13.

With 12:08 remaining in the game, the Swamp Foxes began their final charge to victory.

After free throws from Williams and two baskets by Josh Mendenhall, the Swamp Foxes tied the game at 42-42.  Following a Mariner three-pointer, a Tarrence Chatman basket brought WC to within one, 45-44.  Lewis followed with a three-pointer at the 9:46 mark to give WC its first lead of the game.

At that point, the Swamp Foxes had officially taken over the Mariner ship and never surrendered control again.

Statistically, the game was even in two of three categories.  The Swamp Foxes held a 43-42 percent field goal shooting advantage and won the three-point battle, 31-28 percent.

The difference in the game came at the free-throw line.  The Mariners missed a total of 13 free throws while the Swamp Foxes shot 72 percent from the line.

“When you make 72 percent of your free throws, you can’t ask for much better than that,” Baldwin said.

The catalyst behind WC’s free throw success was Lofton.  He missed only two of his 12 free throws and hit eight consecutive shots in the second half.

“Rachard was inconsistent at the line during the season,” said Baldwin.  “He and Joe (Williams) worked on their free throws harder than anyone in practice and it paid off tonight.”

Lofton credited a television special as his inspiration for pulling through in the clutch.

“When I woke up this morning, the first thing I saw on television was an ESPN special on tunnel vision in sports and how, without it, the crowds can really mess you up,” he said.  “As I was going to the line each time, I remembered what I saw on television, focused on nothing but the rim, and made the shots.  I never felt rushed or nervous.  I said to myself, ‘This feels good.’, and was completely relaxed.”

The Swamp Foxes will now step onto the national stage for the first time as one of 16 teams in the NJCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament to be held in Hutchinson, Kan., beginning March 15.  More details, including who WC will play in the first round, will be released as they become available from the NJCAA.

Baldwin said while his players continue to savor winning a conference championship, he knows more work lies ahead for the team. Preparations, he said, will begin immediately for the national tournament.

“Some teams think that, by reaching the national tournament, they don’t need to focus on what lies ahead because they’ve accomplished the goal of winning their conference,” he said.  “Beginning Monday, it will be my job to motivate us to get back to work and to focus on what’s before us.”

In the meantime, the players don’t mind sharing their thoughts on being named conference champions.

“We’re living a dream right now.  From day one we said we were going to Kansas.  This is a dream come true,” said Lewis.

“I love this team.  We’ve put in a lot of hard work.  I can’t describe the feeling,” said Williams.

“This feels unreal,” Lofton said.  “I love all my teammates.  Everybody on this team is an MVP.”

“Words can’t describe what I’m feeling,” said Mendenhall.  “We’re ready to take flight.”

Waycross College has been a proud member of the University System of Georgia since the College’s founding in 1976.

Contact Information:
Taylor Hereford
Director of Development and Community Services
thereford@waycross.edu