GREENWOOD, S.C. -- Freshman forward Ben Madgen, junior forward AJ Bowman and sophomore center Garret Siler combined for 53 points and 25 rebounds to lead regular-season champion Augusta State to a 91-82 victory over Georgia College & State Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament at Finis Horne Arena.

ASU, the conference’s top-scoring team, improved to 23-5 and advances to face Clayton State in Saturday’s first semifinal game at 6 p.m. The 23 wins are the most for a Jaguar squad since the 1969-70 team went 27-3 under former head coach and current PBC commissioner Marvin Vanover.

Madgen led the Jaguars with 20 points, 14 of which came in the final 16 minutes. Bowman, the PBC’s Player of the Year, added 19 and seven rebounds before fouling out, while Siler tallied his sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Junior center Aaron Clark paced GCSU (19-10) with a career-high tying 29 points and six rebounds. Senior Aaron Gibbs scored 23 points, going 7-of-15 from the behind the three-point arc, while Shaun Keaton contributed 14 points, 11 of which came in a 23.7 second span against the ASU reserves. Bobcat guard Shejdie Childs scored seven points and handed out 12 assists to set a new GCSU season assists record with 191.

The two teams battled evenly for the opening eight minutes of an entertaining first half. ASU gradually built a 12-point margin (35-23) behind the play of Bowman and Siler. A Madgen layup gave the Jaguars a 39-29 advantage with 5:45 left in the stanza. Clark then sparked a 13-6 GCSU spurt to close the half that cut the deficit to 45-42.

GCSU took a 55-54 lead on a layup by Childs with 14:36 left in the contest. ASU regained the lead for good at 58-57 when Madgen went off the glass with a jumper. The Bobcats trailed only 74-68 with five minutes remaining. The Jaguars then scored 14 of the game’s next 15 points, with only a Demetrius Howard layup and a Bowman dunk not coming from the free throw stripe, to take a commanding 88-69 advantage.

Keaton helped narrow the final margin with a dunk and three three-pointers after ASU emptied its bench.

Quotes:

Georgia College Head Coach Terry Sellers --

“I congratulate Augusta State. They have an outstanding team that played extremely well today. They have a chance to go quite a ways.”

“I’m very proud of our team. I thought we were prepared to play and they played hard. It was a very competitive game up until the last three or four minutes. They beat us pretty bad on the boards and we couldn’t stop them. The effort was there, we just didn’t have an answer defensively.”

“These players have been a pleasure to work with, and I never doubt their effort. They’ve played hard all season. Our guys were determined to win the game. We had the opportunity to win, but Augusta answered the call like good teams do.”

Georgia College Center Aaron Clark --

“The whole game we were focusing on getting open shots. We got some open looks late, we just didn’t knock them down. Offensively, we did everything we needed to do, but we have to play better post defense, and that falls squarely on my shoulders.”

Augusta State Head Coach Dip Metress --

“Georgia College played excellent for the first 28 minutes, shot the ball well. But we needed to get a win after losing the last two, and we played good enough to win.”

“We were 31 for 37 from inside the arc. All but maybe three of them were good shots. Overall, I was pleased. We’ve had a long time off, and we played very hard. They just played well. But we played well enough to win and we play again at 6 p.m. tomorrow.”

“It’s a tough bracket when you play a team that won 19 games in the quarterfinals. We’re just happy to get a win and play Clayton in round three. They knocked us off our winning streak and we look forward to that challenge.”

“Your getting a Top 25 matchup in the semifinals - that shows you how good our league is.”

Augusta State Forward Tyrekus Bowman --

“The days off did the team well. It was for us to come out and establish ourselves early on. The fresh legs was the reason for that.”

Augusta State Guard Ben Madgen --

“This week we emphasized making the extra pass. We were just moving the ball around and get a good look. Whoever was open had the good look to shoot. We have the lisence to shoot everytime we’re open.”

Official Basketball Box Score
Georgia College vs Augusta State
03/02/07 3:00 pm at Horne Arena, Greenwood, SC
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VISITORS: Georgia College 19-10
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
30 Gibbs, Aaron........ f  7-17   7-15   2-3    2  0  2   4  23  2  0  0  3  35
22 Clark, Aaron........ c 12-18   2-3    3-5    3  3  6   2  29  2  2  0  1  40
02 Martin, Graham...... g  2-6    0-4    1-2    1  3  4   2   5  2  3  0  1  28
20 Childs, Shejdie..... g  2-6    0-2    3-4    0  3  3   5   7 12  3  0  0  34
24 Keaton, Shaun....... g  5-16   4-14   0-0    1  1  2   4  14  5  1  0  1  32
14 Kemp, Ken...........    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  4  4   1   2  1  1  0  0  16
21 Warden, Jay.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0+
34 Carter, Levert......    1-2    0-0    0-0    2  1  3   0   2  0  0  0  0  15
   TEAM................                         2     2
   Totals..............   30-66  13-38   9-14  11 15 26  18  82 24 10  0  6 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-28 53.6%   2nd Half: 15-38 39.5%   Game: 45.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  6-15 40.0%   2nd Half:  7-23 30.4%   Game: 34.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-9  66.7%   2nd Half:  3-5  60.0%   Game: 64.3%   2,1

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HOME TEAM: Augusta State 23-5
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
01 Madgen, Ben......... f  7-15   0-6    6-8    2  3  5   4  20  4  3  0  1  33
23 Bowman, Tyrekus..... f  8-10   1-1    2-4    3  4  7   5  19  1  1  1  3  24
21 Siler, Garret....... c  6-6    0-0    2-3    6  7 13   3  14  0  0  1  0  23
00 Dixon, Daniel....... g  3-10   1-7    0-0    1  2  3   1   7  3  1  0  3  27
02 Smith, Steve........ g  4-9    1-6    0-0    1  0  1   0   9  2  0  0  0  27
03 Howard, Demetrius...    2-3    1-2    0-0    0  2  2   3   5  4  1  0  0  19
04 Quarles, Jamie......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  3  0  0   1
05 Brown, Howard.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
15 Ilunga, Etsho.......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  0  0  0  0   3
24 Thomas, Arthur......    0-0    0-0    3-4    0  0  0   0   3  0  1  0  0   1
33 Tambon, Luke........    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  3  3   0   2  0  1  0  0  14
44 Small, Kip..........    3-6    0-2    4-4    0  5  5   1  10  4  3  0  0  27
   TEAM................                            1  1
   Totals..............   35-61   4-24  17-23  13 28 41  18  91 18 14  2  7 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 21-35 60.0%   2nd Half: 14-26 53.8%   Game: 57.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-13 15.4%   2nd Half:  2-11 18.2%   Game: 16.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-3  33.3%   2nd Half: 16-20 80.0%   Game: 73.9%    3

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Officials: G. Tuitt, R. Wells, J. Hill
Technical fouls: Georgia College-None. Augusta State-None.
Attendance: 266
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Georgia College...............   42   40  -   82
Augusta State.................   45   46  -   91
Peach Belt Conference Men's Tournament Quarterfinals

Points in the paint-GCSU 24,ASU 38. Points off turnovers-GCSU 23,ASU 13.
2nd chance points-GCSU 10,ASU 22. Fast break points-GCSU 6,ASU 2.
Bench points-GCSU 4,ASU 22. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-7 times.
Last FG-GCSU 2nd-00:19, ASU 2nd-02:54.