The victory, which also marks the final time the two will meet with both teams nicknamed the Saints, improves North Georgia to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in Peach Belt Conference action while Flagler moves to 4-3 for the year and 0-2 in the league.
Chris Tanzy claimed his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 assists and also came up with a key block in the waning seconds of overtime to secure the win for the Saints from Dahlonega. The junior from Marietta, Ga. went 4-6 from the field with a three-pointer as both teams shot over 50% from the field.
North Georgia finished the contest with a 51.4% (36-70) completion percentage while Flagler was slightly better from the field, hitting 53.3% (32-60) of its attempts.
While Tanzy recorded the double-double, Ishmael Hollis led North Georgia in scoring with 19 points off a 7-14 outing and playing 39 minutes. Similar to Tanzy, Hollis went 3-5 from the charity stripe and tied three other North Georgia players with two three-pointers.
Senior Scott Windom and freshman Corey Green rounded out the double-digit scoring for North Georgia as the duo recorded 16 and 12 points respectively. Windom was the most efficient North Georgia player from behind the three-point arc as he went 2-4.
Flagler also had four players finish with double-digit point totals led by Ante Gospic's game-high 22 off an 8-13 performance to go along with going 6-9 from the free throw line.
Matt Clark wrapped up the 45 minutes with 16 points while Ryan Barnes added 15 and Richard Brown chipped in 10 of his own.
Neither team could gain much distance on the other throughout the game with the largest lead of the first half coming with 3:36 remaining when Lamar Richardson drilled one of his two treys to hand North Georgia a 37-28 lead. But Flagler was able to close the distance with the visiting Saints off a 9-2 run over the final minutes, leaving North Georgia clining to a two-point, 39-37 lead heading into the intermission.
North Georgia came out of the break knocking down shots as they scored the first six points of the second half.
But once again, Flagler was able to close the distance and keep the game close. So close, in fact, that the two traded the lead back and forth before coming to an 80-80 tie in regulation after Hollis' layup with 22 seconds remaining canceled out a Ryan Barnes jumper just 21 seconds prior.
North Georgia was able to improve to 2-0 in overtime games this season as they controlled the five minute overtime period with four free throws and four jumpers, but it was Tanzy who iced the game for the Dahlonega Saints as he blocked a shot by Richard Brown with 10 seconds remaining. The shot was rebounded by Travis Core who was fouled and made one of his two free throws to end the contest with nine points.
North Georgia will now be off until the 2013 calendar year when they will open the month of January with a pair of PBC games at home. The first game, a 7:30 p.m. January 5, 2013 contest against Georgia College, is being dubbed "Family Day" with all families being admitted into the men's and women's basketball doubleheader for just $10. Single-person tickets will still be available at the usual rate.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/12/256285