UAA To Meet Augusta State in Men's D-II Final Four
Four Aussies to Face-off
www.goseawolves.com
27 Mar 2008
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - Carl Arts had 17 points and eight rebounds and fellow senior McCade Olsen made the go-ahead jumper with 27 seconds remaining Wednesday to lift the Alaska Anchorage men’s basketball team to a 55-52 win over California of Pennsylvania in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament at the MassMutual Center.
The 4th-ranked Seawolves (29-5) now advance to Friday’s (Australia) semifinals against 10th-ranked Augusta State (26-6) at 9am Sydney time. The game will be streamed live on NCAA.com. The Georgia school moved on with a 106-104 double-overtime thriller of Central Oklahoma in the day’s first quarterfinal.
It is UAA’s first ‘Final 4’ appearance since advancing to the national title game in 1988, also here in Springfield.
The Seawolves came out sloppy at the start, falling behind 14-5 after eight minutes. Freshman Kevin White (Manly) helped spark UAA’s comeback, however, with a layup, and Arts nailed a jumper to get the offense rolling. A putback layup by Arts gave UAA a 25-23 lead going into the locker room.
The Vulcans (28-6) quickly rallied at the start of the second half and took a 44-37 lead with 9:23 remaining. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champs then seemed to take control, going up 50-46 on reserve guard Theron Colao’s back-to-back three-pointers with 5:36 left.
UAA, ranked fifth in the nation in points allowed per game, fought back with another tough defensive effort, holding Cal scoreless over the next five minutes. Seawolf senior forward McCade Olsen, who had been held scoreless to that point, then knotted the game at 50-50 on a baseline jumper with 3:20 showing.
Luke Cooper (Melbourne) finished with 12 points and 4 assists for Alaska-Anchorage.
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Augusta State Wins in Double-OT
www.aug.edu
27 Mar 2008
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The Augusta State Jaguars trailed by 14 midway through the second half and were down by six in overtime, yet managed to rally and edge Central Oklahoma 106-104 in double overtime Wednesday afternoon in the first game of the NCAA Elite Eight at the MassMutual Center. The contest marked the first double overtime game in Elite Eight history since 1982.
ASU, making its first-ever appearance in the Elite Eight, will advance to the Final Four on Thursday at 6:00 p.m., against Alaska-Anchorage (29-5), who beat California (Pa.) 55-52 in the afternoon’s second game. The Seawolves advanced to the Elite Eight by winning the West Regional and also captured their conference’s regular-season title in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Thursday’s national semifinal matchup between ASU and Alaska-Anchorage will be streamed live on NCAA.com at 9am Sydney time.
Junior center Garret Siler matched his career high with 31 points as ASU improved to 26-6 on the year. The junior from Augusta hit 11-of-16 shots from the floor and 9-of-12 free throws to go with seven rebounds. First-team All-American Tyrekus ‘AJ’ Bowman had only five first-half points, yet finished the game with 22 and tied the team lead with eight rebounds. Demetrius Howard added 21 points, including two huge 3-pointers near the end of regulation, while junior forward Ben Madgen (Adelaide) had 18 points, eight rebounds and five steals.
“You hate to see anyone lose this kind of game,” said ASU coach Dip Metress. “Our guys really hung in there. They don’t want to stop playing.”
Central Oklahoma, the South Central Region champion, had its season come to a close at 28-6. Brian Walker paced the Bronchos with 23 points – 13-of-14 from the charity stripe – while senior All-American Sam Belt booked 22 points and 11 rebounds. Eric Cazenave added 14 points and John Neal chipped in 13.
The pattern of the game was established in the first half as Central Oklahoma ran out to an 11-point lead with 2:11 to go, only to see ASU close the gap. A Daniel Dixon 3-pointer was followed by five straight points from Madgen to make the halftime lead 43-38.
“We gave up way too many easy baskets,” said UCO coach Terry Evans. “We took control late in the half, but they forced some turnovers and we made some other poor decisions.”
The lead remained five with 15:31 in the second when UCO went on an 11-2 run capped by three free throws from Belt that left ASU down 62-48 with 11:49 to play. The lead remained at 14 with 9:53 to go when the Jaguars responded with a 9-0 spurt to cut the lead to five. Howard scored five of the nine points while Siler had the other four.
“He was just more physical than our guys,” said coach Evans of Siler. “He just really dominated us inside.”
The lead fluxuated between seven and 10 points for the next three minutes before two more Belt free throws left ASU down seven with 1:36 to play. Howard again stepped up, hitting back-to-back three-pointers that cut the lead to one with 1:06 to go. The UCO lead was one with 10 seconds left when Bowman was fouled driving to the basket, but he made only one of the two free throws to tie the game. UCO’s Neal had the ball but could not get off a shot in the final seconds, sending the game to overtime.
“We just believe in each other and believe in ourselves,” said Madgen. “We just never gave up.”
Tom Wright (Sydney) did not see action in the game. Full Story
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