In their first year of sanctioned junior college play, the Golden Eagles finished 16-14 overall and 6-12 in GCAA (Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association) competition to grab the No. 8 seed for the playoffs. CTC took No. 1 seed Coastal Georgia down to the wire in the first round of postseason play on March 1, but fell 89-84 to the Mariners, who eventually finished as tournament runner-up to Waycross College.
“We finished the regular season 16-14, and you want to have a winning season, you want to be above .500,” said second-year head coach David Archer. “I felt like we had opportunities to have a much better record and finish higher in the standings, but in order to make the playoffs we did what we needed to do. And that was one of our goals, to make the playoffs.”
The Golden Eagles got all-conference contributions this season from freshman Christopher Deny, a 6-foot-3 small forward out of Pebblebrook High in Austell, Ga. Deny was named All-GCAA second team and runner-up for conference Freshman of the Year while finishing second in the league in scoring (18.5 ppg) and 10th in rebounding (7.3 rpg). Deny also led all GCAA players in total free throws made (156) and attempted (204) to go 76.4 percent from the line, which was seventh-best in the league.
“I would consider him one of the most versatile, well-rounded players in the conference this year,” Archer said of his young star.
Freshman forward Clifton Cormier of Westbury High in Houston, Tex., led the GCAA in three-point percentage at 48.3 percent, and freshman guard Kenji Breedlove of Westover High in Albany, Ga., was second in the league in steals with 3.0 per game.
As a team, CTC was first among 10 GCAA squads in offensive output with 77.9 points per game.
Notable conference victories for the Golden Eagles this season include two-game sweeps of Middle Georgia College and East Georgia College. CTC defeated Middle Georgia at home in the teams’ first meeting in an 83-77 overtime thriller on Feb. 5, then took the second game on the road, 88-78, on Feb. 21 to help ensure a playoff berth. CTC also defeated Georgia Perimeter and Gordon College in conference play, and beat Snead State (Ala.) twice in non-conference games. The Golden Eagles also narrowly lost to conference champ Waycross at home on Jan. 16, dropping an 86-82 double-overtime thriller.
The team will lose several key players off this year’s club, including sophomore contributors Leon Coleman (6-foot-6 forward, SW DeKalb High, Lithonia, Ga.), Richard Taylor (6-foot-10 center, Manchester, U.K.) and Brian Collier (6-foot-9 center, Banneker High, Atlanta, Ga.), but hopes to add maturity among returning players and new faces at the spring signing day in April.
“There are probably some key pieces that we need as a basketball team, that if we can fill those needs going into next year I think we can be one of the top four to five teams in the league,” Archer said. “We’ll have a good nucleus of players back next year, and I think we’ll be better.”
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