PBC Tournament - Augusta State Rains Threes on Lander, Advances to Semis
AIKEN – The top-seeded Augusta State Jaguars put on a
three-point shooting clinic Friday afternoon en route to their
97-78 quarterfinal victory over eighth-seeded Lander in the Peach
Belt Conference tournament at USC Aiken’s Convocation
Center.
The Jaguars, who are ranked fifth nationally and improve to 24-4,
netted a PBC tournament record 17 three pointers. ASU, scored a
season-high 56 points in the first half and connected on 60.7
percent of their its shots for the game, earns the right to play
the Georgia College/North Georgia winner in Saturday’s 6 p.m.
semifinal. Lander finishes the season at 13-16.
Ben Madgen scored 19 of his game-high 24 points to lead all
scorers as he connected on 8-of-12 field goals, including 6-of-8
threes, and dished off eight assists. Daniel Dixon was 5-of-8 from
behind the arc and netted 19 points with six rebounds and four
assists; while Garret Siler added 16 points and nine rebounds; and
Caleb Brown had 10 points.
Houston Wright led the Bearcat with 19 points, while Darius
Johnson added 14, Jacob Machoskay 12 and Ford Lawrence 11. Brent
Harris led Lander in rebounds with 10. The two teams combined for
19-of-31 three pointers in the first half, with ASU taking a 56-36
halftime lead keyed by 12-of-20 threes.
The Bearcats took an early 2-0 lead at 18:38 and the two teams
were tied three times before the Jaguars broke away on
Madgen’s three-pointer to make it 9-6 with 15:57 left in the
half.
ASU’s Brown and Dixon each hit threes to stretch the lead to
21-12 at 10:25, then the Jags took their first double-digit lead at
9:42 on a Siler’s field goal to make it 23-12. ASU went on an
11-2 run to take a 37-17 lead on Dixon’s steal and layup.
The Jags closed the first half with two baskets in the final four
seconds after Dixon stroked a three-pointer then Smith stole the
inbounds pass for a bucket at the buzzer.
ASU went inside to Siler and Fred Brathwaite early in the second
half before Smith and Brown nailed threes en route to the
Jags’ biggest lead of 26 points – 70-44 at 15:59.
For the game, ASU connected on 37-of-61 field goals for 60.7
percent, including 17-o-f-29 three-pointers for 58.6 percent. The
Jaguars also made 6-of-10 free throws for 60 percent.
Lander was 29-of-70 from the field for 41.4 percent, including
9-of-24 three pointers for 37.5 percent. The Bearcats sank 11-of-14
foul shots for 78.6 percent. Augusta outrebounded Lander, 37-34.
Lander vs. Augusta State – Quotes
Lander head coach Bruce
Evans:
“My hats off to Augusta State. They have a very good ball
club with so many weapons. Coach Metress, his staff and team showed
why they were national runner-ups. They have so many ways that they
can beat you.”
“We tried to take some things away from them early, but they
had other players step up and make plays. If you want to be
successful, you can’t let them shoot 60 percent for the
game.”
“They were hesitant early because we were giving them those
shots, and they missed their first few. But once they hit those
first couple of threes, everyone regained that
confidence.”
“I’m proud of the effort of our players. They fought
and never gave up. What hurt us in the first half is we missed a
lot of easy baskets early.”
Augusta State head coach Dip Metress:
“We are esstatic about getting a win in the Convocation
Center.”
“They basically didn’t guard three of guys in the
beginning. We usually don’t shoot that many, but they were
just backing off of us. We won’t shoot that many tomorrow,
that’s for sure.”
“We had good balance. We adjusted well and got some more
firepower. We want to win this thing. None of us have won a Peach
Belt Conference Tournament, and we want this bad.”
Junior guard Daniel
Dixon:
“When you are feeling it, you are feeling it and everyone is
feeding off each other very well. That helps when our guards are
shooting that well and making plays.”
Junior guard Ben
Madgen:
“We went inside early, and left the shooters open to make the
plays. We didn’t want let up at all in the second half
because we’ve lost some 20-point leads a few times this
season.”