PBC Tournament - Clark Carries Bobcats Past Cougars 85-79

AIKEN, S.C.-- Senior center Aaron Clark scored 22 points, including 18 in the final 18 minutes, and grabbed 16 rebounds to rally Georgia College & State University to an 85-79 victory over Columbus State University, Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Peach Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The third-seeded Bobcats (20-8) advance to face seventh-seeded Clayton State University in Saturday’s first semifinal game at 6 p.m.

Clark was one of four GC&SU players to score in double digits. Guard Graham Martin tallied 15 points and five assists and Shaun Keaton had 14 points, seven assists, and six steals. Reserve swingman Jay Warden chipped in 13 points.

Junior guard Javarus Stewart led the sixth-seeded Cougars with 21 points, while Sean Miller added 17 points and Maurice Arnold 12 points and nine rebounds.

Columbus State used a 14-2 spurt late in the opening stanza to grab a 42-32 halftime advantage. A three-point play by Travis Matthews in the first minute of the second stanza upped that margin to 45-32.

Later in the half, a pair of free throws by Shondre Guest gave CSU a 56-45 margin with 13:59 left. GC&SU then scored the game’s next 11 points, with contributions from five different players, to tie the contest at 56-56 with 10:54 remaining.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Quay Holloway pushed Columbus State back ahead 62-56. The Bobcats still trailed 66-61 with six minutes on the clock when a Martin three-pointer sparked a 13-0 GC&SU run that erased the deficit and put the Bobcats up for good at 74-66 with 3:34 left.

CSU did trim the margin to 74-70 on a layup by Arnold, but GC&SU scored five straight points to lead 79-70.

GC&SU connected on 16-of-30 second-half shots and 17-of-21 free throws over the final 20 minutes, while holding the Cougars to 32.3 percent shooting in the second stanza.

Boxscore

Game 10 – Columbus State vs. GCSU – Quotes

Georgia College head coach Terry Sellers:

“It was a hard-fought game, and Columbus and Georgia College always has some unbelievable battles and they always seem to be close. I’m certainly proud of our team for hanging in there and battling throughout the entire game. The last eight to 10 minutes we really started playing better defense, making some big shots and getting some key rebounds.”

“My hats off the Columbus. They are a dangerous team, and they out-worked us in the first half and beat us to the ball on the board. In second, we knew we had to execute better because the season was on the line. Our guys were determined that they didn’t want this to be their last game.”

Senior center Aaron Clark:

“I was expecting double-teams, and they were bringing double-teams late. As long as I kept getting the ball and not getting the double-team, I would keep attacking the basket.”

Columbus State head coach Doug Branson:

“We played very hard at the start of the game and had a lot of energy. We knocked down some shots, and I knew we went to the line a good bit in the first half, but in the second half, we couldn’t get to the free throw line, and when we did we didn’t make them. We then hit a cold spell in the second half, and they didn’t.”

“We’ve had cold spells since November 15th. That’s we are 13-and-a-bunch. We have lapses at times when we have a hard time scoring, and that’s been a trademark of this team all year long. Our senior leading scorer goes 0-for-8 and 0-2 from the 3-point line, and it’s tough to win when he doesn’t have bucket.

“We played hard and fought hard, but we couldn’t sustain it in the second half.”