AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Augusta State's Franck Ndongo posted his fifth double-double of the season Wednesday night to pace the No. 11 Jaguars to a 68-54 Peach Belt Conference victory over Flagler in Christenberry Fieldhouse.
The win lifted the Jaguars to 23-3 overall and 13-3 in the conference. The Saints dropped to 9-14 and 3-12 in the league. The victory marked ASU's 44th straight at home and the 32nd straight in conference play, and avenged a 76-70 overtime loss at Flagler on Jan. 5.
With Georgia College's 85-83, triple-overtime victory at Georgia Southwestern, the Jags can clinch the PBC regular-season title with a win Saturday vs. Francis Marion.
Senior guard George Johnson nailed four 3-points in the first half and led all scorers with 23 points. Ndongo, a senior forward from Yaounde, Cameroon, booked 17 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Travis Keels contributed 8 points and blocked two shots.
Chad July led three Saints in double figures with 15 points and grabbed a team-high seven boards. Eddie Fowler scored 15 and Kenny Moore contributed 11 points and six rebounds.
ASU built as much as a 20-point lead in the first half on 51.6 percent shooting as Johnson notched 16 points en route to a 43-26 halftime lead. The Jags struggled from the field in the second half, shooting only 26.3 percent, and Flagler rallied to pull within 56-52 on a 3-pointer by John Pietkiewicz at the 5:50 mark.
ASU answered, pushing its lead back to double digits on strong shooting from the charity stripe, including 7-of-8 by Johnson, The Jags connected on 15-of-19 free-throw attempts and Keels' jumper at the 1:45 mark putt the Jags up 65-54.
The Jags owned the edge in rebounding 37-27 and committed only nine turnovers, including just two in the first half. The Jags scored 18 points off 11 turnovers and outscored the Saints' bench 19-0.
"We did a great job sticking to our game plan. In the end, we closed it out well by playing great defense. Tye (Beal) and O'Neal (Armstrong) did a great job defensively," said ASU head coach Dip Metress, who was recognized prior to the game for reaching the 300 career win milestone in the Jags' 56-50 win at Montevallo on Saturday, Feb. 12.
ASU hosts Francis Marion at 3:30 p.m., Saturday afternoon. The contest will serve as Homecoming and Senior Day for the Jags, who will be making their final regular-season appearance in Christenberry Fieldhouse.
A live webcast, as well as live stats, of Saturday's PBC doubleheader will be available at http://www.aug.edu/athletics/statcrew/xlive.htm and http://augstate.nmtvsports.com, respectively.
