FLORENCE, S.C. -
Augusta State clinched its second consecutive Peach Belt Conference
Championship Saturday afternoon with a 77-60 road win over Francis
Marion in Smith University Center.
With the victory, the No. 5 Jaguars clinched their third PBC
regular-season championship in the last four years. ASU became the
first program to record back-to-back league titles since Kennesaw
State accomplished the feat during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons.
The Jags are only the third program in the 20-year history of the
PBC to claim consecutive conference championships.
The victory -- ASU's ninth straight -- improved the Jags to
24-2 overall and to 16-1 in the PBC. The Patriots, the No. 5-ranked
team in the NCAA Southeast Region, dropped to 18-7 and 10-6,
respectively.
The Homecoming crowd of 2,150 marked the largest on-campus crowd to
witness a Francis Marion basketball game in 31 years.
The win was the Jags' 11th straight in the series with FMU
and their sixth straight victory in Smith University Center. Over
the last three seasons (beginning with 2007-08), ASU has a combined
record of 24-1 in the month of February.
Seniors Ben Madgen, Fred Brathwaite and Alex Smith each tallied 17
points. Brathwaite just missed his seventh double-double of the
season, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Freshman reserve point
guard Dominic Morra booked career highs in points (six), steals
(four) and minutes played (26) in place of Daniel Dixon, who was
saddled with foul trouble for much of the game.
With 2,157 career points, Madgen became the all-time leading scorer
in the history of ASU Basketball, surpassing former Lady Jaguar
standout Lawanna Monday. Previously, Monday owned the school record
for career points with 2,143.
The Jags, who led the entire way, sprinted out to a 10-0 lead in
the first 2:00 of the contest. They pushed their advantage to 27-12
on Howard Brown's fastbreak layup off a feed from Dixon with
7:49 to go in the half. The Patriots countered, stringing together
a 22-8 run over a span of 6:40.
A Mike Candelaria 3-pointer at the 1:09 mark pulled the hosts
within one as the Jags went the last 5:06 without a field goal.
Madgen and Greg Hire hit 3-of-4 free-throw attempts in the final 56
seconds to give ASU a 38-34 halftime lead.
Brathwaite's alley-oop dunk off a feed from Madgen punctuated
a 13-4 spurt to start the second half. After FMU inched within 11,
the Jags answered with a 13-2 run over a 6:22 stretch to open up a
22-point lead with 3:05 remaining.
ASU shot 48.8 percent for the game, including 55.0 percent in the
second half, and won the rebounding edge 39- 26 over FMU.
The Jags committed a season-high 22 turnovers -- 14 in the first
half -- and were 30-of-45 at the charity stripe, the second-most
free-throw attempts of the season. The Patriots were 18-of-22 from
the foul line, but shot just 35 percent in the game and only 30
percent in the second half.
ASU closes out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 27, when the
Jags host Lander for Senior Night in Christenberry Fieldhouse.
