Anderson Advances To Elite Eight With 75-73 Overtime Victory Over Augusta State

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Taylor Shugart scored 14 points and blocked the potential game-tying shot with two seconds left in overtime to give seventh-seeded Anderson a dramatic 75-73 win over top-seeded Augusta State in the championship game of the 2011 NCAA Tournament Southeast Regional at Christenberry Fieldhouse.

Denzail Jones also scored 14 points, Oskars Ernsteins added 12 points and Brandon Young dished out seven assists for the Trojans (21-11), who advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in school history. Anderson avenged a 100-70 loss to Augusta State in last year's Southeast Regional semifinals and a 78-72 defeat to the Jaguars in this year's season opener.

Anderson advances to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. The Trojans will face top-ranked and undefeated West Liberty (32-0) in Springfield, Mass., on Wednesday, March 23, at 6 p.m.

Augusta State's Franck Ndongo posted a double-double for the 10th time this season, including all three Southeast Regional games, with 10 rebounds and a career-high 28 points on 10-15 shooting from the field and 8-10 from the free throw line. George Johnson had 18 points and six assists for the Jaguars (30-4), who were denied a fourth straight trip to the Elite Eight and saw their home winning streak snapped at 48 straight games.

Shugart scored four of Anderson's six points in overtime, including a jumper in the paint with 1:13 on the clock that broke a 73-all tie and proved to be the winning points. Augusta State had a chance to tie after Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one with 17 seconds left, but Ben Purser's shot in the lane was blocked cleanly by Shugart and the Anderson players and coaches erupted in celebration as time expired. Augusta State missed eight of its nine shots from the field in overtime.

O'Neal Armstrong's two free throws with one minute remaining in regulation put Augusta State up 69-66, matching the Jaguars' biggest lead of the second half. Shugart made one of two free throws to pull Anderson within two points with 43 seconds left, and Ndongo was fouled one second later. Ndongo, who had been a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line to that point, missed both attempts. Anderson's Kevis Cornwell rebounded the second miss and hit a jumper with 27 seconds remaining to tie the score at 69. After an Augusta State timeout, the Trojans broke up Purser's pass to Ndongo for a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.

A layup by Nick Trull followed by a driving dunk by Trey Britton gave Anderson a 52-43 lead with just under 12 minutes left in the second half, but Augusta State outscored the Trojans 24-12 over the next six-and-a-half minutes to take a three-point lead. Ndongo's two free throws tied the score at 64 with 3:44 on the clock and Johnson's three-pointer at 3:09 put Augusta State on top 67-64, the Jaguars' first lead since 23-22 at the seven-minute mark of the first half.

After hitting a career-best eight three-pointers and matching his career high with 31 points in the Jaguars' 71-60 semifinal win over Queens, Johnson continued his hot hand with two treys in the first four minutes of the championship game. Jones matched him with two three-pointers of his own as the teams played to a 10-all tie. Ernsteins, who hit five three-pointers in the Trojans' 82-76 semifinal victory over Montevallo, nailed his first three-ball of the night at the 6:42 mark and another a minute later to put Anderson up by five. Jones followed with a steal and fastbreak layup to stretch the margin to 30-23, and Ernsteins hit his third three-pointer to give the Trojans their biggest lead of the first half, 37-28.

Three-point shooting was the difference in the first half, as the Trojans hit seven of 13 shots (53.8 percent) from beyond the arc to take a 39-32 lead to the break. Jones led a balanced Anderson attack with 10 first-half points while Ernsteins scored nine. However, the Trojans shot just 1-7 (14.3 percent) from three-point land in the second half. The lone second-half trey, by Ernsteins from the right wing, put Anderson up 62-56 with 6:20 to play.

After Johnson's two early three-pointers, the Trojans held him to just two more points the rest of the first half. Ndongo had a team-high 10 points and five rebounds as the Jaguars shot 40 percent (4-10) from three-point range and 52.2 percent (12-23) overall in the opening half.

Augusta State shot 57.9 percent (11-19) in the second half to rally from the seven-point halftime deficit, but just 11.1 percent (1-9) in overtime to finish the game at 47.1 percent (24-51) from the field, while Anderson finished at 50 percent (29-58). Augusta State converted 15 of its first 18 free throws and finished 17-22 (77.3 percent) from the charity stripe, while Anderson connected on nine of 14 (64.3 percent) from the free throw line.

Quotes

Anderson Head Coach Jason Taylor
"What a special program (Augusta State Head Coach) Dip (Metress) has built. In my opinion, he's the best in the business."

"In overtime, we wanted to establish an inside presence. Our guys defended their tails off all night long."

(On Augusta State's two missed free throws with 42 seconds remaining in regulation): "I was planning on (Franck) Ndongo making both of them. It was huge. I don't remember what we did to get the ball to the rim. ASU is so good defensively, we knew in order to have a chance we had to play aggressively."

"Two years ago we won 15 and five years ago we won four, and last year was our first appearance in the regional. I appreciate them believing in me just as much as I believe in them."

Anderson Junior Center Taylor Shugart
"It feels amazing. Words can't really describe it."

"I remember the game last year against ASU. We knew this was a payback game."

Augusta State Head Coach Dip Metress
"Tough loss. I give Anderson all the credit. It was a tough loss. Anderson made all the shots."

"We took the lead. We are a very good free throw shooting team. We missed some shots. They made some tough shots. Sometimes the ball didn't fall our way."

"It was a great year. Great for our senior class to go 30-4 this year. You can say we overachieved all year, but not tonight. We just didn't play well enough to win."

Augusta State Senior Foward Howard Brown
"It's hard to lose like this. This was a tough loss, a real tough loss. It's tough to lose my last game."

Augusta State Senior Guard George Johnson
"I feel like I gave it my all."

2011 NCAA Southeast Regional
All-Tournament Team
George Johnson, Augusta State, Co-Most Outstanding Player
Franck Ndongo, Augusta State, Co-Most Outstanding Player
Brandon Young, Anderson
Denzail Jones, Anderson
Reggie Hopkins, Queens