MONTEVALLO, Ala. -- Augusta State head men's basketball coach Dip Metress earned his 300th career victory Saturday when his Jaguar squad held off Montevallo for a 56-50 Peach Belt Conference road win in BankTrust Arena.
With the victory, the No. 7 Jaguars clinched the PBC East Division title and improved to 22-3 overall, 12-3 in the conference and 8-2 in the division.
Senior forward Franck Ndongo paced ASU in scoring for the second straight game with 16 points and added eight rebounds. Senior guard George Johnson connected on four 3-pointers and tallied 15 points. The Jags tweaked their starting lineup, inserting senior Howard Brown and junior Tye Beal in place of sophomores Travis Keels and Ben Purser.
"A veteran coach once told me, it's not about the X's and the O's, it's about the Johnny's and the Joe's," said Metress, in his seventh season on the ASU bench and in his 15th season overall. "I've been very fortunate to have had some very talented players over the years. All the credit goes to this group of players and to all the guys before them who played for me."
ASU actually trailed by one after Ryan Westbrooks hit a 3-pointer to put the Falcons in front 42-41 with 5:35 left. The Jags then rattled off an 11-1 spurt that Johnson ignited with a pair of free throws. Caleb Brown drilled a trey off a feed from O'Neal Armstrong with 4:03 to play and 59 seconds later, Ndongo dunked for a 48-42 ASU lead.
Armstrong canned a pair from the charity stripe with 2:39 remaining and after Westbrooks hit 1-of-2 free throws, Travis Keels delivered a pair of free throws for a 52-43 ASU advantage at the 1:51 mark. Brown added a layup with 1:22 left and Armstrong and Johnson added late free throws for the final margin.
The Jags, who connected on five 3-pointers in the first half, built a 17-point lead en route to a 31-19 advantage at the break. They shot 40.5 percent from the field for the game and made 20-of-26 free-throw attempts (76.9 percent).
DeMarcus Catchings was the only Falcon to reach double figures, finishing with 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds, UM shot 42.1 percent overall, including 52.6 percent in the second half, and outscored ASU 24-12 in the paint.
The Jags take on Flagler on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m., in Christenberry Fieldhouse. ASU will be looking to avenge its 76-70 overtime loss to the Saints on Jan. 5 in St. Augustine, Fla.
A live webcast, as well as live stats, of Wednesday's doubleheader with FC will be available at http://www.aug.edu/athletics/statcrew/xlive.htm and http://augstate.nmtvsports.com, respectively.
