2012-13 2012-13
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2012-13 2012-13
Men’ s Basketball
BACK-TO-BACK! Pacers Claim Second Straight PBC Regular-Season Championship
AIKEN, S. C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men’ s basketball team claimed its second consecutive Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship outright with a 56-50 victory over rival Augusta State on Wednesday evening at the Convocation Center.
The back-to-back league regular-season championships are the first in program history. The USC Aiken men’ s basketball program now has four Peach Belt Conference regular-season crowns in its history( 1992-93, 2007-08, 2011-12 and 2012-13).
In addition to claiming its second straight league crown, USC Aiken( 19-6, 15-3) was also able to sweep the regular-season series from Augusta State( 13-12, 8-10 PBC) for the first time since the 1997- 98 season. The Pacers also bested the Jaguars, 76-62, on Saturday, Feb. 2 in Augusta.
The 50 points allowed in the game were the fewest points surrendered by USC Aiken on the 2012-13 season. It was also a season-low for the Jaguars.
USC Aiken and Augusta State entered the halftime break tied at 27-27.
The Pacers would pull ahead by as many as 12 in the second half before emerging with the six-point victory.
USC Aiken closed out the win over Augusta State shooting 46.5 percent( 20-for-43) as a team. The Pacers shot 72.2 percent( 13-for-18) from the free throw line.
Augusta State shot just 38.5 percent( 15-for-39) from the field as a team in its loss to USC Aiken. The Jaguars shot 65.2 percent( 15- for-23) from the free throw line as a team in the game.
The now regionally second-ranked Pacers held a commanding 34-21 rebounding advantage in the contest.
Three Pacers finished in double figures with Santoine Butler( Augusta, Ga./ Gardner-Webb) claiming his fourth double-double of the season in the game. He had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Butler also had three blocks and two assists.
Paul Larsen( Mooresville, N. C./ Mercer) just missed on a double-double of his own in the contest with 13 points and eight rebounds. He obtained half of his caroms on the offensive glass.
The final Pacer in double figures was Ronald Zimmerman, who finished with 11 points.
The national leader in 3-pointers made, Zimmerman( Columbia,
S. C./ Spring Valley HS), who is already USC Aiken’ s single-season leader
in 3-pointers made, knocked down two 3-pointers in the contest to become the first Pacer in USC Aiken’ s NCAA Division II history to claim 100 3-pointers in a season.
The Jaguars had three players in double figures with D’ Angelo Boyce leading the way with 13 points.
USC Aiken Claims PBC Men’ s Basketball Tournament Title 65-50 over Montevallo!
COLUMBUS, Ga. – Back-to-back Peach Belt Conference regular-season champion USC Aiken men’ s basketball completed the 2012-13 league sweep on Sunday afternoon with a 65-60 league tournament championship win over Montevallo at the Lumpkin Center.
The tournament championship is the third in program history
( 1993, 2010 and 2013). USC Aiken has now defeated Montevallo in the tournament championship game in 2010 and 2013.
The 2013 Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship continues a tremendous run for the Pacers over the past six years. Since the 2007- 08 season, USC Aiken has claimed three league regular-season championships( 2007-08, 2011-12 and 2012-13) and two tournament titles( 2010 and 2013).
After claiming the league’ s automatic bid with the 2013 Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship, the Pacers have now advanced to the NCAA Tournament in five out of the last six years. The Pacers advanced to the NCAA Division II“ Sweet Sixteen” in 2009. USC Aiken entered the halftime break down by four at 31-27. Montevallo commenced the second half on a 10-0 spurt to own a 41-27 lead with 16:04 to play in the game. USC Aiken would not be deterred though with the Pacers going on a 20-4 run to take a 47-45 lead with 9:39 remaining in the contest.
The two teams would battle back and forth over the next nine minutes with the Pacers clinging to a 61-60 lead with 35 seconds to play in the game.
That would be as close as the Falcons would get with DeVontae Wright( Goose Creek, S. C./ The Citadel) and Kinley Branch( Stone Mountain, Ga./ Arkansas State) both connecting on two free throws each over the course of the rest of the game in the Pacer four-point
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Men’ s Basketball