Men's basketball wins one, then loses two in a row

By Chris Nicolini
Sports/Web Editor

The men’s basketball team picked up their first Peach Belt Conference win in two years last Saturday Jan. 17, beating Georgia College and State University 90-81. The squad then lost to Lander University 66-64 the following Wedensday Jan. 24, and again lost to Clayton College & State University on Saturday January 24, 70-51, bringing their record to 2-14 overall and 1-5 in the PBC.

Damien Goodman continues to lead the Braves in points scored with 247, averaging 15.4 points a game, followed by Travis Wallace with 186 points scored, averaging 11.6 a game.

“Damien just plays really hard,” said Head Coach Bryan Garmroth, “he is one of those guys who has made himself into a good player because he works so hard. I wished earlier that some of the new guys would of followed him.”

The team has added two new players since the break, Ricardo Williams and Britton Thomas, in an attempt to fill some slots left open by the large number of players who have quit since the beginning of the season. The Braves squad now consists of nine players.

One of the reasons the squad has struggled so much over the past two seasons has been due to a lack of leadership on the court between older, more experienced players, and new, incoming freshman players.

“We were a young team. We didn’t have the type of junior and senior leadership, because the program has just been so down,” Garmroth said. “When you’ve got strong juniors and seniors and you’ve had success, then young guys come in and they’re having to work harder than they’ve ever worked. That’s why its college… If you’ve got strong leadership and guys who’ve had success, they can help bring those guys through that… we didn’t have that.”

The Braves have a tough hill to climb competing in the PBC this season.

“This conference (the PBC) on the Division II level, would be the equivalent of a major Division I conference, like the ACC or the SEC” said Director of Athletics Dan Kenney. “You don’t have to win your conference to qualify for postseason play.”

While that may be a bold statement when describing a 2-14 team, the squad does have a chance to finish up the season with a respectable record in PBC play, with three teams currently at 1-5 in the conference and one at 2-4.