GCSU stuns No. 17 Pacers in PBC Tournament quarterfinals
AIKEN, S.C. | Richard Crawford III and Luke Chism combined for 39 points to lead Georgia College & State University to an 83-71 upset victory over 17th-ranked University of South Carolina-Aiken in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Peach Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Wednesday (March 6) evening at USC Aiken Convocation Center.
The Bobcats, who are seeded eighth in the tournament, improved to 15-14 and will advance to Thursday's (March 7) semifinal against the winner of No. 4 seed Flagler College-No. 5 Augusta University quarterfinal game later Wednesday. USC Aiken, which was the top seed, fell to 23-6 and will have to wait until Sunday (March 10) evening to see if they will earn at-large berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The GCSU victory was the first for a No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed at the PBC Tournament since 2006 when Lander University upset No. 1 seed Columbus State University 81-74.
After Tyler Johnson connected on a three-pointer for USC Aiken 22 seconds into the game, the Bobcats responded with 17 unanswered points to up up a 17-3 lead after Chism nailed a jumper with 14:27 remaining in the first half. A Chism free throw with five seconds left in the half gave the Bobcats a 38-33 lead at the intermission.
USC Aiken briefly retook the lead at 45-44 after a Tehree Horn layup with 14:00 left, but the Bobcats took the lead for good 52-49 on a Jake Mooney three-pointer with 11:28 to go. The Bobcats pushed their lead back to double figures when Austin Sloan hit two free throws with 29 seconds left to take a 79-69 lead. GCSU hit 22 of its 27 attempts from the charity stripe.
Crawford led the Bobcats with 20 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, including hitting all three three-pointers. Crawford also was perfect from the charity stripe. Chism finished with 19 points as he went 8-of-12 from the floor. Sloan finished in double figures with 13 points, while Brendan Rigsbee and Brady Spence had nine apiece. Spence also pulled down eight rebounds, while Rigsbee had seven.
Columbus State Upsets Lander, Advances to PBC Tournament Semifinals
AIKEN, S.C. - The sixth-seeded Columbus State University men's basketball team upset the third-seeded Lander University on Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the 2023-24 Peach Belt Conference Tournament. The Cougars advance to the semifinal round on Thursday at 5 p.m. against second-seed University of North Georgia.
Columbus State trailed 21-27 after the first half of play, but came out strong in the second half to beat the Bearcats. The Cougars scored an impressive 44 points in the second half and held Lander to 27 points.
Wsidom Uboh scored 20 points to lead the Cougars to the upset victory. Kordell Brown stepped up for CSU, tallying 18 points and grabbing seven rebounds, and Marquis Davison scored 17 points.
Jarrett Adderton led CSU in rebounds with eight and Jehloni James also grabbed seven rebounds.
No. 20 Nighthawks, Champion's Free Throw Dominance Lead to PBC Tournament Semifinals
AIKEN, S.C. – For the first time in 11 years, the No. 20 University of North Georgia men's basketball team will play in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament semifinals after a 77-73 over seventh-seeded Georgia Southwestern Wednesday afternoon at USC Aiken.
The second-seeded Nighthawks dominated GSW, particularly on defense, forcing seven steals and blocking eight shots as a team. The win marks the first in the PBC Tournament for head coach Dan Evans. Now his team will prepare to face sixth-seeded Columbus State in the PBC Tournament semifinals tomorrow, Thursday, Mar. 7 at 5 p.m.
Junior forward Frank Champion was exceptional in the quarterfinal matchup. He posted a career high 33 points and set a new PBC Tournament single game record with 19 made free throws. In total, Champion went 7-for-13 from the floor and 19-for-21 (91%) at the charity stripe while adding five rebounds and two blocks.
The 6-foot-10 forward was stifled on offense in both regular season matchups against the Hurricanes. In two games, Champion only mustered 19 points, including just 10 points in the 80-71 February loss at the Storm Dome.
After the game, Champion said, "I just knew I had to be aggressive. We played them maybe a week or two ago and I just wasn't aggressive enough."
However, the four time PBC All-Conference selection and 2023 PBC Player of the Year proved that no one can outrun Champion for long. "It's March, and in March the best players have got to come (show) out, so that's what I had to do," Champion said.
Champion's refocus on aggression got him back to doing what he does best; scoring inside and getting to the free throw line. During the regular season, no one attempted more free throws in the PBC than Champion. He went to the line 180 times, knocking down 106 of those attempts, the fourth most in the league.
Champion wasn't the only big man to assert himself down low for UNG. Sophomore center Colin Turner, perhaps fueled by his career night in the regular season finale at Clayton State, added 12 points, four rebounds, two blocks and a 6-for-6 performance at the line off the bench.
Turner started his first career collegiate game last Saturday and did not disappoint, going off for a career-high 30 points and 12 rebounds on 12-for-13 shooting from the floor. His 12 points against GSW mark just the third double digit scoring effort of his career.
Sophomore guard AJ White joined Champion and Turner as the third and final double digit scorer for the Nighthawks. The 2023-24 PBC All-Conference First Team member dropped 12 points and three steals. White knocked the only two UNG three-pointers in the game, going 2-for-5 from distance.
Early in the game UNG found itself trailing by as many as nine points after a three-pointer from Hurricane senior guard Jalen Johnson gave GSW a 23-14 lead at the 10:54 mark. From that point forward, the Nighthawks outscored the Hurricanes 24-13 to take a two-point lead into the locker room.
The second half was much more intense as neither team mustered larger than a six-point lead. At the final media timeout, with 3:58 to go, the Nighthawks clung to a 68-67 advantage.
After trading buckets, UNG forced a turnover when Champion plucked the ball from the offense and began to push it in transition. He found White slashing to the basket for a layup to give the Nighthawks a three-point lead, 72-69.
The next time down the floor, GSW had three looks at the basket from inside five feet to cut into the lead. Yet, the 6-foot-9 Turner held his ground strong on the possession forcing numerous misses. The possession culminated when Turner blocked a shot and senior guard Hunter Shedenhelm grabbed the board before being fouled.
After Shedenhelm made the pair of foul shots to give UNG a 74-69 lead with 1:27, the Hurricanes had the ball on their largest possession of the season. Desperately needing a bucket, GSW's leading scorer Johnson drove the lane. Waiting for him was sophomore guard Cayden Charles who poked the ball loose and took it the other way for the Nighthawks.
The Hurricanes were forced to begin intentionally fouling UNG and could not muster a comeback with under a minute to go.
Despite being out rebounded, out shot from the floor and downtown, out scored in the paint and outscored off turnovers, the 29-point advantage at the free throw line was enough to propel the Nighthawks to a victory.
"We played physically, but they're a good team," Evans said. "If you can win, no matter what it looks like, you've done really well. We're the best league in the region for a reason and so I'm really proud of our guys to persevere. We did just enough to survive and get through and play another day."
The free throw discrepancy was no fluke either. These two teams entered Wednesday's contest on polar opposite sides of the foul spectrum. GSW ranked last in the PBC and No. 263 in NCAA Division II in fouls per game at 19.8. On the other side of the spectrum was UNG who led the PBC and ranked No. 6 nationally in free throw attempts per game at 26.1.
Furthermore, the Hurricanes have displayed difficulty to defend without fouling against the Nighthawks in the past. UNG's 39 made free throws and 46 attempts Wednesday are the most in a single game for the program under Evans, and the most in a game in program history since 2015-16.
In three games against GSW this year, the Nighthawks averaged 40 attempts at the free throw line, the most of any opponent they faced this season.
Now UNG will face sixth-seeded Columbus State after the Cougars upset third-seeded Lander, 65-54 Wednesday afternoon. The Nighthawks went 1-1 against CSU in the regular season, taking down the Cougars 82-79 on the road in January and falling 68-67 in overtime at home in February. The PBC semifinal showdown tips off tomorrow, Thursday, Mar. 7 at 5 p.m. Should UNG advance to the PBC championship game, it will be the first appearance in the conference tournament's final game in program history.
Saints Use Late Surge to Pull Away from Augusta in PBC Tournament
AIKEN, S.C. – Jax Bouknight scored a game-high 20 points, 12 in the second half alone, as Flagler College defeated Augusta University 81-70 in a Peach Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament quarterfinal game Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.
Flagler improved to 19-10. Up next for the Saints is Georgia College & State University in a semifinal game tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. Augusta's season comes to an end at 17-12.
The Jaguars trimmed the Saints lead to four (65-61) with 6:19 left to go in the game. Both teams struggled to score over the next two minutes, but Malik Bryant stopped the drought when he made the first of two free throws with 4:11 left, which ignited a 14-5 run by Flagler over the next 3-minutes, 19 seconds. Bouknight scored the last five points in the spurt.
Jalen Barr added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Saints. Omar Figueroa and Mason Manning each added 10 points. Bryant finished with seven points, six rebounds, and five assists.
Flagler made 20-of-26 from the free throw line and forced 15 Augusta turnovers that were converted into 29 points. The Saints grabbed 35 rebounds, including 13 offensive boards that led to 19 second chance points.
Demitri Gardner led the Jaguars with 19 points. John St. Germain III added 16 points and a game-high eight assists. David Viti finished with 15 points and six rebounds while Max Amadasun contributed 12 points, six rebounds, and three blocked shots.
NOTE: Flagler got a measure of revenge after having its seasons ended by Augusta in 2022 and 2023 in the conference tournament.