BABSON PARK — Webber International University repeatedly fought back from double-digit deficits and did cut the lead to one, but the Warriors fell short, losing to Coastal Georgia, 71-68, in a men's Sun Conference game Thursday at the Sabbagh Athletic Center on the Webber campus.
Coastal Georgia (7-7, 15-9) jumped out to early leads of 11-2 and 25-12 behind the hot outside shooting of Brandon Martin, who connected on four of six 3-point attempts in the first half, helping the Mariners to 43-30 lead at the half.
Webber (6-7, 10-10) found itself down early in the second half 51-36, but began to apply more defensive pressure in their half-court defense.
When Tommie Luke stole the ball and dunked, Webber was back to within seven at 53-46.
However, the Warriors would again fall back, this time to 61-48 with eight minutes remaining.
Fighting back one last time, Webber trimmed the lead to seven (67-60) on Joseph Serrano’s basket at the 3:49 mark.
Jonathan Childs’ offensive rebound and put-back made it 67-62, and then good denial defense in the passing lanes resulted in a turnover.
Osandai Vaughn transitioned quickly and passed to Luke, who dunked was fouled and it was 67-64 with 1:41 remaining.
However Luke missed his free throw.
After two Mariners free throws, Nicholas Blocker had a put-back basket with 49 seconds remaining to make it 69-66.
An effective inbounds handoff play from Childs to Luke resulted in a layup, and with 15.8 seconds Webber was trailing by only 69-68.
However, Washington made two free throws to close out the scoring and provide Coastal Georgia the road win.
“I’m tired of us not coming out at the start,” said Webber coach Allen Corbin. "We spotted them a large lead again tonight just like we did against Warner and Florida College.
"We were able to come back and win those games and I think we were good enough to win tonight, too, but we have to start better.
"I am proud of our guys that they did show fight to get back in this in the end.”
Webber was led by Luke with 26 points, Vaughn with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Childs' 16 rebounds.