Sports

TJC basketball teams revel in national titles

• The men’s and women’s basketball teams from Turner Job Corps celebrate their wins Tuesday after capturing national titles last week.

Joshua Brown

ALBANY — Three Turner Job Corps Students signed letters of intent to play with Albany Technical College’s basketball team Tuesday, a week after the center brought home both the men’s and women’s national championship titles.

TJC took the titles last week during the job corps national basketball tournament, hosted in Atlanta. Both teams advanced to nationals after finishing at least first or second at the regional event.

“This is a day of celebration. You know, you have to be able to give people their flowers while they can enjoy them,” TJC Director Steve Belk said Tuesday after an event celebrating the teams’ victories. “This is a good feeling. I just feel like a proud father.”

Turner’s men’s team beat Atlanta Job Corps, 52-46, in the title game and the women’s beat Mississippi Job Corps, avenging a loss to the same team that beat them in regionals, 43-40.

Fourteen total teams competed in last week’s tournament, Belk said.

Signing letters of intent to attend Albany Technical College Tuesday were Montavious Marc, 17, Wiley Dawsey, 20, and Tremain Hardwick, 21. The three said they should be starting at college in early July.

Hardwick said he was looking forward to seizing the opportunity to better his education.

“It’s the perfect opportunity,” he said about ATC, where he wants to study marketing. “I’ve worked hard to get here and I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Men’s coach Charles Holmes said he was confident in the team’s abilities to bring back the national title from the get-go.

“I told them I felt like we could win the national championship when we first started,” he said. “Most of our students come from difficult backgrounds and they meshed together and formed a good team.”

Elizabeth Stanley, 23, said she she felt good about the win, which brought the women’s championship title back to Turner after four years of remaining in Mississippi Job Corps’ hands.

“We actually had to pull together as a team,” she said. “There was a lot of immaturity on the team, a lot of people not stepping up — I was one of them — ... but we had to make up our minds to win.

“We did a good job stepping up.”

Stanley said she wanted to become an R.N. and possibly go to Tallahassee Community College or Albany Technical College.

Women’s coach Amie Henry said the team had to raise its confidence level to match its skill level to beat the team from Mississippi because the girls were easily intimidated by the four-year champions.

“It wasn’t a matter of skill ... but it was more a matter of confidence because we’ve been training all year,” Henry said. “So their confidence level had to match their skill level to pull it off.”

Belk said the celebration served as a way for students at the school to see the result of hard work and dedication.

“For the hundreds of other students to see that, the proof is in the pudding. They can see the end.” he said. “For the next 12 months, we can say that we’re the champs.”

The Turner men’s team last won the national title in 2006, while the women’s team last won it in 2004.

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