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Augusta State Downs Alaska-Anchorage in D-2 Final Fourwww.aug.edu28 Mar 2008 SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The ultimate dream is now just one game away for the Augusta State Jaguars, who advanced to the National Championship game with a hard-fought 56-50 win over Alaska-Anchorage in the semifinals of the Elite Eight on Thursday. The Jaguars (27-6) will make their first national final appearance against either Bentley or Winona State on Saturday at 2:30 (Sunday 5:30am Sydney). “We are elated to be playing on Saturday,” said head coach Dip Metress. “Playing for the national championship,” said junior center Garret Siler. “It just doesn’t sound real right now.” The Jaguars stormed out of the gate, racing to a 21-5 lead as the Seawolves (29-6) went over six minutes without a point. ASU hit their first four shots from the field and outrebounded UAA 23-14 in the half. The Seawolves, ranked #4 in the nation, hit only one of 12 three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes. “We played a phenomenal first half,” said Metress. “But we told our guys that they had four runs in them, and we saw two of them in the first four minutes of the second half.” Alaska-Anchorage began their comeback with back-to-back three-pointers from McCade Olsen that cut the lead to nine with 17:30 to go. After a pair of Ben Madgen free throws and a 3-pointer from Tyrekus ‘AJ’ Bowman pushed the lead back to 14, UAA answered with three-pointers from Carl Arts and Chris Bryant. An Arts’ layup with 15:03 to go put the cap on an 18-5 run that cut ASU’s lead to four. “This game is not about who can throw the most punches,” said Bowman. “But who can withstand the most punches. And we withstood theirs.” UAA trimmed the lead to three with 10:52 to play on a Bryant three-pointer. ASU answered with layups from two layups from Siler and another from Dixon. After playing only five minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls, Siler hit six of nine shots in the second half for 13 points and six rebounds, finishing the game with 17 points and seven boards.
“He had some tough matchups,” said Metress of Siler. “But he went to work inside in the second half. He made some mistakes, but never hung his head.” Full Story
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