At the second-round NJCAA national tournament game on March 22 in Hutchinson, Kan. The Chargers fell 70-69.
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The GHC Chargers ended their season on Wednesday, March 22 after falling 70-69 to Motlow State in the second-round game of the NJCAA national tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.

Motlow State led the Chargers for the majority of the first half. GHC started to come back near half time and was down 40-34 at the half.

During the second half, the Chargers started to take the lead. GHC was leading Motlow State by 14 points with nearly eight minutes left in the game.

Ty Cockfield led the way for the Chargers with 18 points. Ty’lik Evans contributed 17 points for GHC while Antonio Wade contributed 12 points.

Look for a basketball season wrap-up in the April 18 edition of the Six Mile Post.

On Wednesday March, 22 from 6:30-9 p.m., GHC will be hosting two viewing parties where students, faculty and staff can come and watch the 3rd seed Chargers men’s basketball team play in the second-round game of NJCAA national tournament.

One of the viewing parties will take place at the Floyd campus library. People are asked to bring snacks to share at this viewing party.

Massamba Dioum goes for a layup during a game earlier this season.
Photo by Shannon Francis

The other viewing party will take place at the Cartersville site Student Center in room 102. Popcorn and drinks will be provided at this viewing party.

If a person cannot make it to one of the viewing parties, he or she can watch the game at http://www.njcaatv.com/landing/index.

The Chargers’ Ty’lik Evans and Kyvon Davenport were placed the on GCAA All-Tournament team for men’s basketball. Only four other people made the team.

Taylor Farley intercepts the ball during the GCAA quarterfinal game on Feb. 28 at the Floyd campus gym.
Photo by Jaida Lovelace

Taylor Farley and Kateryna Khomenko of the Lady Chargers were placed on the GCAA All-Tournament team for women’s basketball. There were only seven other women players in the GCAA to make the All-Tournament team.

Kyvon Davenport receives his GCAA Conference Player of the Year award after the championship game. At the game, Davenport led the Chargers with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Photo by Joshua Mabry

On Saturday, March 11, the GHC Chargers baseball team completed an 11-game winning streak after sweeping a doubleheader against USC Lancaster. In game one on March 11, the Chargers won 3-1. In game two, GHC defeated USC Lancaster 14-4.

Due to the team’s recent winning streak, they have received votes in the NJCAA ranking poll.

Brandon Bell swings at the plate against Sinclair during the doubleheader on Feb. 25.
Photo by Daniel Smith

The next home game for the Chargers will be on Friday, March 17 at 6 p.m. against Three Rivers Community College. They will then have a doubleheader on Saturday, March 18. First pitch will be at noon.

The ATM machine in the Floyd campus Student Center after someone attempted to break-in to it.
Photo by Kacey Neese

According to GHC Police Chief David Horace, in the early morning hours of March 9, a person attempted to break-in to the ATM machine that is located in the Student Center on the Floyd campus.

Horace said, “The unknown perpetrator(s) caused extensive damage to the ATM.”

Horace also said that this is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with any information is asked to contact the GHC Police Department at 706-252-4813.

Massamba Dioum goes for a layup.
Photo by Shannon Francis

Massamba Dioum, born in Africa, is playing on the Chargers’ men’s basketball team this season. Dioum said that he has been living in the United States for a little over three years now.

Basketball is the primary reason that Dioum moved to the United States. “When I started playing basketball good, I got a lot of scholarships from Spain, France and the United States,” he said.

Dioum said that his uncle that already lived in the United States told him, “If you want to go to the league, the NBA, moving to the United States is the easy way to go to the league.”

Dioum attended high school at Covenant Christian Academy in Cumming, Ga. After high school, Dioum was recruited by JJ Merritt, assistant men’s basketball coach and Floyd campus intramurals director. Dioum ultimately decided to come to GHC because he “wanted to stay in Georgia” because “I’ve got my family here. Georgia is where I know.”

Dioum is glad that he decided to come to Georgia Highlands. He said, “I like the school; the people are so nice.” He said the fact that people are so nice is his favorite aspect of GHC besides basketball.

At GHC, Dioum is majoring in General Studies but he ultimately plans to major in International Business.

With International Business, Dioum hopes to make a lot of money in order to go back to Africa one day and help people.

He said that it has always been his dream to help people. “Some people in Africa, they need to go to school. Some people need clothes. I want to try to help them,” he said.

Dioum has been playing basketball since he was 13 years old. He said, “In Africa, when you’re born, you start playing soccer. When I started growing up, all my friends said, you have to start playing basketball.” His mother agreed with his friends, and he started playing basketball instead of soccer.

“I love to play basketball. That’s something that’s in my blood right now. I cannot stand a day without playing basketball,” said Dioum.

Dioum said that he is “really funny.” When he is not playing basketball, he enjoys sleeping. He said, “I like to sleep; I sleep a lot.”

On March 11, the Georgia Highlands College Chargers basketball team defeated South Georgia Tech 99-80 to win the NJCAA Region 17 conference tournament for the third consecutive season. Since they won the conference, the Chargers will now advance to the NJCAA national tournament in Hutchison, Kan.

The Chargers were led by Kyvon Davenport the entire game. At the half, Davenport had contributed 13 points and GHC was leading South Georgia Tech 51-35.

By the end of the game, Davenport had scored 27 points and had 13 rebounds. In addition, Ty’lik Evans contributed 19 points for GHC and Antonio Wade and Kamar McKnight each had 14 points.

Davenport said that he and his team performed well in this game. He said, “We came out here and said we were going to do it.”

Davenport is ready for the national tournament. “Last year we came out short, but I feel like we’re going to go all the way this time,” he said.

Phil Gaffney, men’s head basketball coach and athletic director, said that he feels great about his team’s performance at this game. He said, “Our guys played really well. Everybody was unselfish and they played very hard. That led to a nice victory today.”

About winning the conference and going to the national tournament, Gaffney said, “This is great for the college and great for publicity. I’m very excited for our players.”

The NJCAA national tournament will take place on March 20-25 at the Hutchison Sports Arena in Kansas. Follow the Six Mile Post at sixmilepost.com and on Twitter @6MilePost for updates.

Kyvon Davenport receives his GCAA Conference Player of the Year award after the championship game. At the game, Davenport led the Chargers with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Photo by Joshua Mabry

Ty Cockfield goes for a layup during conference tournament game on March 10. Photo by Joshua Mabry

The Georgia Highlands College Chargers men’s basketball team defeated the South Georgia State Hawks 101-91 on March 10 during the NJCAA Region 17 semifinal game at the Floyd campus gym.

The score stayed close during the entire semifinal game and was tied 43-43 at the half.

Ty Cockfield led the Chargers with 29 points. Ty’lik Evans contributed 21 points for the GHC victory and Kyvon Davenport contributed 14 points.

Cockfield, leading scorer, said that he feels great about his performance during this game. “I got my teammates involved and we got the pressure up and we got everything going,” he said.

Phil Gaffney, head coach for the Chargers, said, “We struggled a lot today. Ty’lik Evans played a great game and really saved us. He came off the bench and scored a lot of points and played great defense for us.”

Since GHC won the semifinal game, the team will now advance to the Region 17 championship. The Chargers will face South Georgia Tech during this game because South Georgia Tech won the semifinal game against Albany Tech that took place right before the GHC semifinal game. The championship game will take place on March 11 at 4 p.m. in the Floyd campus gym.

Cockfield said that the Chargers have to be ready for the championship game. He said, “Us being number one doesn’t mean anything. Everybody’s going to come out and give us their all.”

Ty Cockfield goes for a layup during the GCAA semifinal game on March 10. Cockfield led the Chargers with 29 points. Photo by Joshua Mabry

People can livestream the championship game at https://www.jockjive.com/gcaasports.html. Follow the Six Mile Post at sixmilepost.com and on Twitter @6MilePost for updates.

Melissa Wood, head softball coach, recently received her 100th win after the Lady Chargers defeated ABAC 2-1 in game one and 3-1 in game two on Saturday, March 4.

Wood’s 100th win was also the 100th win for the GHC softball program since Wood is the only head coach the program has ever had.

Wood said that her 100th win was “very exciting.” “As a coach, the best thing about the number 100 is that it includes wins from each team since our inauguration,” she said.