Augusta sailed past Columbus State 88-67 Friday night in the semifinal round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament behind 23 points and 13 rebounds from first team all-conference center Tyshaun Crawford. The No. 18 ranked Jaguars (25-5) secured the opportunity to host Lander (22-8) Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in the tournament championship game.
Crawford shot 8 of 11 from the field, he made all 7 of his free throws and he dished 3 assists to go along with multiple “hockey assists” to Augusta’s perimeter players, who made 9 of 15 three point attempts. Including Crawford, seven players scored 8 or more points for Augusta, who shot 59% from the field and outrebounded the Cougars 40-27.
Freshman Chris Britt scored 14 points, all in the second half. Britt made 6 of his 7 field goal attempts, including 2 of 3 from long distance, in 18 minutes of action. Miguel Arnold (12 points) made 2 of his 3 attempts from behind the three point line, and Tyree Myers (9 points and 5 assists) made 3 of 4 from deep.
MORE: USC Aiken and Augusta advance to Friday’s PBC Tournament semifinals
Ja’Queze Kirby and Darren Lucas-White each scored 9 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. And David Viti made all three of his field goal attempts and swished his only free throw attempt to score 8 points in 19 minutes off the bench.
Lander tops USC Aiken
Lander secured a spot in the championship game after sprinting out to a 25-point lead over USC Aiken and fending off a late game spurt by the Pacers to earn a 93-81 win in Friday’s first semifinal game. Senior Jared Sherfield, who was named second team all conference earlier this week, scored 31 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, dished 3 assists and snagged 3 steals to lead the Bearcats.
Lander led USC Aiken 81-56 with 7:56 remaining before the Pacers went on a 25-5 run to cut the deficit to 86-81 with 1:10 left. Sophomore Tyler Johnson led USC Aiken with 29 points. Johnson’s heroics in Thursday’s 71-70 quarterfinal round win over eight-seed Georgia Southwestern propelled the top-seeded Pacers to Friday’s semifinal.
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