| ASU Sprints Past Pacers |
| Ben Madgen scores game-high 21 in Jags' ninth straight win over USCA |
| Web Posted 1/6/07 |
AIKEN, S.C. --
Augusta State (10-3, 2-0 PBC) continued their recent dominance of the series against rival USC Aiken (6-8, 1-1 PBC), ending the first half on a 33-8 run and downing the host Pacers 89-70 Saturday night in men’s Peach Belt Conference action. The Jaguars have now won nine consecutive games in the series with the Pacers last win against ASU coming February 23, 2002 in Augusta, Ga.
The visitors opened the game with four straight points and led 11-5 with 14:41 on the clock. Seth Leonard scored his and the team’s seventh point of the game to keep the Pacers close. ASU extended their lead to 15-10 before Darren Pore sparked an 8-0 run. Pore scored five straight points to the game, and freshman Casey McMasters drilled a three to give USCA their first lead at 18-15.
The lead, however, would be short lived. The Jaguars scored the next eight points to regain the lead, and the Pacers never recovered. With his team leading 27-22, Ben Madgen sparked another 8-0 run with five straight points.
With the game slipping away, Pacer head coach Vince Alexander put center Abdul Herrera back into the game with two fouls. Moments later, Herrera was whistled for his third foul, which resulted in two technical fouls being called on the Pacer bench. Magden converted on all four technical free throws and then made a layup to cap what turned into a six-point play for the Jaguars and gave them a 20-point lead at 44-24.
Madgen finished the first half with 13 points as Augusta State hit 15-of-29 shots from the field for 50.9 percent. The Pacers, meanwhile, committed 14 turnovers and connected on 36.0 percent (9-25), resulting in a 48-26 halftime deficit.
Led by sophomore Kingsley Oguchi, USC Aiken tried to make a comeback. Oguchi scored 12 second-half points and his three-pointer with 11:30 left cut the lead to 14 points at 61-47.
Augusta State responded with an 8-0 run, which was again sparked by Madgen, the fourth leading scorer in the PBC coming into the game. This time the freshman capped the run with five straight points to extend the lead back to 22 points. The game stayed at around a 20-point margin for the last ten minutes as the Jaguars closed out the victory.
The Jaguars continued their good shooting in the second half and finished the game at 50.9 percent (27-53). The Pacers connected on only 22-of-58 shots from the field for 37.9 percent. USCA committed only five turnovers in the second half to finish with 19 compared to 18 for ASU.
Madgen finished with a game-high 21 points to lead the Jaguars, while Tyrekus Bowman, the PBC’s leading scorer coming into the game, tallied 17 points and eight rebounds. Oguchi led four Pacers in double figures with a season-high 17 points. Seth Leonard, Pore, and McMasters chipped in with 13, 12, and 10, respectively. Herrera, after recording 24 points and 14 rebounds Wednesday, managed just two points and three boards.
USC Aiken, will try to move back above .500 on conference play on Wednesday when they travel to Pembroke, N.C., for a 7:30 tip-off against UNC Pembroke. Augusta State travels to Georgia College & State on Wednesday for a 7:30 tip-off against the Bobcats.
OFFICIAL BASKETBALL BOX SCORE -- G A M E T O T A L S
Augusta State vs USC Aiken
01/06/07 7:30 PM at Aiken, S.C. (The Courthouse)
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VISITORS: Augusta State 10-3, 2-0 PBC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Madgen, Ben f 6-12 2-5 7-9 0 3 3 3 21 0 2 0 0 29
23 Bowman, Tyrekus f 4-12 0-2 9-13 2 6 8 4 17 1 5 0 1 30
21 Siler, Garret c 2-4 0-0 2-3 0 4 4 5 6 1 1 0 0 17
00 Dixon, Daniel g 3-5 3-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 9 0 3 0 1 18
02 Smith, Steve g 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 5 5 2 2 3 1 0 2 29
03 Howard, Demetrius 4-7 3-6 2-2 1 6 7 4 13 2 2 0 3 27
04 Quarles, Jamie 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1
05 Brown, Howard 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1
10 Kleiva, Robertas 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 1
15 Ilunga, Etsho 0-1 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
24 Thomas, Arthur 2-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 2
33 Tambon, Luke 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 2 1 0 0 14
44 Small, Kip 4-6 0-0 5-8 0 1 1 3 13 6 0 0 2 29
TEAM ........................................ 1 7 8 1
TOTALS 27-53 8-20 27-40 4 34 38 29 89 16 18 0 11 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 15-29 51.7% 2ndH: 12-24 50.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 50.9% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 5-12 41.7% 2ndH: 3-8 37.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 40.0% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 13-16 81.3% 2ndH: 14-24 58.3% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 67.5% 6, 1
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HOME TEAM: USC Aiken 6-8, 1-1 PBC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Leonard, Seth f 4-8 1-3 4-4 2 0 2 5 13 1 1 0 0 25
22 Oates, Theo f 1-5 0-1 3-4 0 1 1 2 5 4 2 0 1 33
43 Herrera, Abdul c 1-5 0-0 0-1 0 3 3 3 2 0 3 0 1 18
13 McMasters, Casey g 3-10 2-7 2-2 0 4 4 4 10 2 0 0 1 23
20 Oguchi, Kingsley g 5-11 2-6 5-10 1 1 2 4 17 1 2 0 3 33
04 Gadomski, Jakub 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 5 0 0 2 0 0 8
05 Brown, Mark 0-2 0-1 3-4 0 1 1 1 3 0 3 0 0 7
21 Pore, Darren 5-11 1-3 1-2 1 6 7 4 12 0 1 0 0 24
31 Flowers, Rashad 2-3 0-0 0-2 1 3 4 3 4 2 0 0 1 15
33 Glover, Richard 1-3 0-2 2-4 1 2 3 1 4 0 5 0 0 14
TEAM ........................................ 0 5 5 2
TOTALS 22-58 6-23 20-33 7 28 35 34 70 10 19 0 7 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 9-25 36.0% 2ndH: 13-33 39.4% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 37.9% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 3-7 42.9% 2ndH: 3-16 18.8% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 26.1% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 5-8 62.5% 2ndH: 15-25 60.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 60.6% 7, 1
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OFFICIALS: Chet Mirabal (R), Jerome Hall (U1), Matt Potter (U2)
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Augusta State - none
USC Aiken - the bench(2)
ATTENDANCE: 1,583
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Augusta State 48 41 89
USC Aiken 26 44 70
Technical foul at 2:38 of 1st half--USCA Bench indirect
Technical foul at 2:38 of 1st half--USCA Bench direct (head coach)