Golden Eagles hoops complete home sweep of Atlanta Metro before three-game conference road swing

SMYRNA--The Golden Eagles hoops teams got a sweep over Atlanta Metropolitan College on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at the Smyrna Community Center, playing two gritty defensive performances against their GCAA opponents. The wins come before the team must embark on a three-game conference road stretch, their longest of the year to date.
The teams both meet East Georgia this Thursday, Jan. 19, and Central Georgia on Jan. 25. The teams split on Saturday, Jan. 21 as the men head to Waycross College and the women travel to Andrew College.

The women opened up the Tuesday night sweep with a 79-69 victory thanks in large part to the steady scoring of Tiayra Green, who finished with a game-high 28 points along with eight assists and eight rebounds.

“It’s big to get this win, it’s a confidence builder,” said head coach Guy Coleman, whose team broke a three-game conference losing streak.

The Golden Eagles (9-8, 2-5) also got double-digit scoring outputs from Tequilla Vaughns (19 points, 13 rebounds), and Kendra Patrick and Tasia Holdorf (12 points each).

Chatt Tech held Atlanta Metro to 33 percent shooting overall, and 17 percent shooting from 3 (5-of-29).

“We stressed defense last week, because it just hasn’t been that good recently,” Coleman added.

Coleman’s team overcame an early 26-13 deficit to take a 41-39 halftime lead. In the second half, the team kept a double-digit lead for much of the final 10 minutes of the game. The team shot for 49 percent from the field for the game.

Coming off a 100-77 home loss to Gordon College on Saturday, the men’s team under David Archer also worked on defense. The result was a 49-47 win in which the Golden Eagles held Atlanta Metro to 0-for-17 shooting on 3-pointers.

“After losing the way we did a couple days ago to Gordon, and not really knowing where we are as a team, to be able to come back is big,” Archer said. “Offensively, we weren’t really that great, but defensively, it was the best game of the year for us.”

The men’s squad (12-6, 2-5) was led offensively by Darius Miller (13 points, six rebounds, two blocks), but improved perimeter defense and the inside presence of Asauhn Dixon-Tatum (eight blocks, 10 rebounds) kept Atlanta Metro in check.

“To do that against a team that’s virtually in second place in our conference, it says a lot about how we can compete with anybody in this league,” Archer added. “I’m hoping we can build on that and try to work our way back into the middle of the pack this week.”

Dixon-Tatum came up with his biggest block of the night in the waning seconds to help preserve a two-point victory, swatting an AMC attempt out of bounds with only one second remaining. A last-second 3-point attempt missed everything and gave the Golden Eagles their second conference victory. Tatum is the leading shot-blocker in all of NJCAA Division 1 hoops, erasing nearly six shots per game.