Augusta Advances To Peach Belt Semifinals With 84-76 Win Over Young Harris

Augusta Advances To Peach Belt Semifinals With 84-76 Win Over Young Harris

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Seeded No. 2 in the East Division, the Augusta Jaguars (17-10) hosted the Peach Belt Conference Quarterfinals with West No. 3 seed Young Harris (15-14) on Sunday afternoon in Christenberry Fieldhouse and won 84-76 in the first round of the league tournament.

The Jags avenged an early-season loss to YHC with the tournament victory and go on to play West seed No. 1 Columbus State on Saturday, March 5 in Columbus, Ga., at 1:00 p.m.

Jags senior Tommy Williams recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead all scorers on the day.

Augusta junior Keshun Sherrill and YHC's C.J. Wilson ended the regular season tied for second in scoring in the Peach Belt with 23.6 points per game, while Sherrill led the league in free throws (196) and free-throw percentage (88.8 percent).

Sherrill scored 15 points, while Wilson had 21 points and six assists in the quarterfinal matchup. The Jags shot over 50 percent from the floor with a 54.7 field-goal percentage and held YHC to a 45.0 field-goal percentage.

Despite only shooting 10 percent (1-for-10) from three-point land, the Jags survived the contest by outscoring YHC in the paint and grabbing one more rebound.

Young Harris' Bjorn Walker buried a three pointer to tie the game at 18-all in the first half, but senior Trevor Foreman was fouled and made the jumper to keep the Jags slightly ahead at the start of the game. A trey for YHC from Wilson made it a one-point affair just above four minutes at 26-25. Marcellus Roberts gave YHC their first lead of the game with a jumper in the paint, but the Jags took back the advantage.

Sherrill was fouled on a three-point attempt with a second before halftime and drilled all three for a 37-32 lead at the break. T. Williams had a quick 12 points in the first half while 10 of the 11 Jaguars to play recorded points.

Augusta shot above 50 percent in the first half and a Tamyrik Fields kept it going and pushed Augusta up by 10 with a quick jumper in the second half. Freshman Ja'Shawn Brooks found an open corner three pointer and buried the shot to push the Jags up 58-44.

The lead dwindled for Augusta as YHC climbed back into a five-point contest with 9:00 minutes to play. T. Williams hit a turnaround jumper in the lane to push the lead to 73-63. Every time the Mountain Lions the lead, Augusta regained a double-figure advantage.

Freshman Aaron Byrd and junior Keith Crump both grabbed steals and drove the floor for two baskets that gave the Jags enough momentum to outlast YHC.

Junior Keshun Sherrill ended the regular-season leading the entire Peach Belt in free throws (196) and free-throw percentage (88.7) and ranked second with 23.6 points per game – tied with YHC'S C.J. Wilson. Sherrill ranked seventh in made field goals and was eighth in minutes played. Junior Keith Crump had the third best three-point percentage in the PBC (48.3) and senior Tommy Williams had 8.0 rebounds per game to rank fourth.

The final round of games will be played March 5-6 at the highest remaining west division women's seed – Columbus State in Columbus, Ga. The championship game will be played on Sunday, March 6. The tournament is presented by Jani-King.

Fans of Jaguar Athletics can subscribe to the email listserve by clicking here. Fans can follow Augusta University at www.AugustaJags.com and receive short updates on Facebook at Augusta University Athletics and on Twitter at @AugustaJags

-- 30 --