The Chargers home debut was spoiled by the visiting Motlow State College Bucks. The first half saw both teams take leads at various points. Motlow lead by 6 with 13:20 remaining but the Chargers behind 15 first-half points by Trevin Wade and 14 by Jamal Burke were able to recover and build an 8-point lead at the break, leading 51-43.

The second half started out well for GHC as they built their biggest lead of the game at 11 points. But Motlow was able to come back behind 9 offensive rebounds to the Chargers 2. The second half saw 3 ties and 7 lead changes. The Bucks hit the go-ahead shot with 2 seconds left and a potential game-winning three by the Trevin Wade was blocked at the buzzer. The final score was Motlow State 81, Georgia Highlands 80. GHC was led by Cahiem Brown’s 19 points, following by Jamal Burke with 17 and Trevin Wade with 15. Motlow State was led by a game-high 20 points from Derrick Rayford.

In the end, turnovers and stretches of poor shooting doomed the Chargers. While the Chargers outshot the Bucks 48% to 40% from the field, the Bucks were able to take 11 more shots than the Chargers. They also outshot GHC at the line 78% to 62%. This was echoed by Head Coach J.J. Merritt. “Another tough loss. We just didn’t execute like we needed to win the game. We had too many turnovers and gave up too many offensive rebounds. We’re a good team, we just have to put it all together.”

The men will get a chance to get back in the win column tomorrow (11/9) versus American Basketball Institute.

Caheim Brown leads Chargers with 19 points.