FLORENCE, SC – Junior swingman Ben Butler scored 15 points on five three-point field goals, including one with 55 seconds left that snapped a 60-60 deadlock and helped lift Augusta State University to a 64-62 win over Francis Marion University in Peach Belt Conference men’s action Saturday afternoon (Jan. 25).
The North Division-leading Jaguars improve to 11-6 overall and 7-2 in the PBC with their seventh straight win over Francis Marion. Senior 6-7 center David Siebrands added 13 points and point guard Chris Harriman tallied 10 points and handed out six assists.
For the second consecutive game, sophomore forward Louis McCullough came off the bench to lead Francis Marion (8-8, 3-6), this time with 18 points. Junior guards Jarron Hinton and Mike Buglione each scored 11 points as the Patriots again failed get their first win of the season against a winning opponent.
Trailing 8-7, the Jaguars scored nine consecutive points to go ahead 16-8 with 13:33 left in the half. Thanks to poor shooting (33.3%) and 10 first half turnovers by the Patriots, Augusta State slowly expanded its lead. A layup by Marcus Johnson with 46 seconds remaining before halftime allowed ASU to retire to the lockerroom with a 35-21 advantage.
The ASU lead grew to 17 points (45-28) on a Siebrands’ layup with 15:29 remaining in the contest. The Jaguars still owned an 11-point lead (52-41) with nine minutes left. McCullough, Buglione, and Jaquan Bracey then fueled a 19-8 Francis Marion rally that produced a 60-60 tie with 1:21 remaining. A layup by Hinton was the final basket of the run.
On the ensuing possession, Butler drained his three-pointer from the right side with 55 ticks left. Another Hinton layup with 41 seconds on the clock brought FMU to within 63-62. After running the shot clock down, ASU’s Jermale Wilkerson missed a three-pointer and FMU’s Andrew Snipe grabbed the defensive rebound with 10 seconds left.
Following a timeout by both squads, Hinton drove down the right side of the lane and was triple-teamed under the basket and lost the ball out of bounds with 1.7 seconds remaining. On the inbounds pass, Wilkerson was fouled with 0.6 seconds on the clock. He made the first of two free throws, but his miss was rebounded by teammate Marty Dunham as the horn sounded.
After its poor first half performance, Francis Marion shot 57.1 percent (16 of 28) in the final 20 minutes, including four of eight from behind the three-point arc.
Both teams return to action on Wednesday night, with FMU playing at USC Spartanburg and ASU hosting nationally ranked Columbus State University. Both games tip off at 7:30 p.m.
OFFICIAL BASKETBALL BOX SCORE -- G A M E T O T A L S
Augusta State University vs Francis Marion University
1-25-03 4:00 pm at Florence, SC (Smith University Center)
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VISITORS: Augusta State University 11-6 (7-2 PBC)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
20 Butler, Ben f 5 10 5 8 0 0 2 4 6 3 15 0 2 0 1 23
31 Curran, Patrick f 2 6 0 2 0 0 1 3 4 4 4 2 2 0 0 21
42 Siebrands, David c 5 9 0 0 3 3 2 3 5 1 13 2 2 0 1 31
02 Wilkerson, Jermale g 1 10 1 7 1 2 1 0 1 0 4 6 1 0 1 36
24 Harriman, Chris g 4 9 2 6 0 1 2 2 4 1 10 6 1 0 1 34
05 Brebner, Dean 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 5
22 Broddie, Darrick 1 1 0 0 1 2 1 1 2 2 3 0 1 1 0 12
33 Johnson, Marcus 4 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 2 0 0 0 14
35 Dunham, Marty 3 6 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 1 6 1 2 1 1 24
TEAM ........................................ 1 1 2 1
TOTALS 25 58 9 24 5 8 13 16 29 14 64 20 12 2 5 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 15-31 48.4% 2ndH: 10-27 37.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 43.1% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 4-14 28.6% 2ndH: 5-10 50.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 37.5% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 1-1 100.% 2ndH: 4-7 57.1% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 62.5% 1, 1
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HOME TEAM: Francis Marion University 8-8 (3-6 PBC)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Williams, Randy f 2 5 0 0 2 2 0 3 3 1 6 0 2 1 0 19
45 Snipe, Andrew f 3 5 1 2 1 2 3 4 7 3 8 0 2 0 0 35
43 Bracey, Jaquan c 4 8 0 0 0 0 5 4 9 3 8 4 2 3 1 37
15 Hinton, Jarron g 5 12 0 3 1 1 0 3 3 1 11 5 4 0 2 37
23 Buglione, Mike g 4 11 2 5 1 2 1 1 2 2 11 1 2 1 3 31
24 Jenkins, Michael 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 13
33 McCullough, Louis 6 8 2 2 4 6 3 3 6 0 18 1 2 1 0 25
35 McQueen, James 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM ........................................ 1 1 2
TOTALS 24 52 5 14 9 13 13 20 33 11 62 11 15 6 6 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 8-24 33.3% 2ndH: 16-28 57.1% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 46.2% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 1-6 16.7% 2ndH: 4-8 50.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 35.7% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 4-6 66.7% 2ndH: 5-7 71.4% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 69.2% 2, 2
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OFFICIALS: Steve Deibel, Steve Derr, Charles Cummings
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Augusta State University - none
Francis Marion University - none
ATTENDANCE: 800
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Augusta State University 35 29 64
Francis Marion University 21 41 62
FMU's Hinton turns ball over under FMU basket with 1.7 seconds left, and
ASU's Wilkerson makes 1 of 2 free throws with 0.6 seconds left.