Emmanuel, UNC Pembroke Fall in NCAA Division II Southeast Regional First Round
EMMANUEL BOX SCORE | UNCP BOX SCORE
AUGUSTA, Ga. – The first round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship Southeast Regional saw the seasons for No. 10 and second-seeded UNC Pembroke and eighth-seeded Emmanuel come to an end inside George A. Christenberry Fieldhouse on Saturday.
UNC Pembroke found themselves in a battle from the start as the teams tied three times and traded the lead seven times in the first 15 minutes, but it was the Nighthawks who pulled away in the second half for a 76-58 win over the Braves. Over the first three minutes, the teams traded shots and tied at 2, 7 and 9. Amare Miller and JaJuan Carr drained back-to-back baskets for a four-point lead and held the advantage until Giancarlo Bastianoni drained a 3-pointer to put North Georgia up one. The teams traded leads until a 6-0 UNG run gave them a five-point lead, 22-17. The Nighthawks led 32-27 at the break.
The Braves opened the second half on a 10-5 run, led by Bradlee Haskell’s eight points, to tie the game at 37 with 17:28 to play. North Georgia responded with an 11-3 run to push the deficit to eight points, but UNCP scored the next four points to make it 48-44 with 12:41 to play. Another run by UNG, 9-2, made the lead 11 and the Braves got no closer than nine points the rest of the way in the loss. Nygell Verdier led UNC Pembroke with 16 points while Carr finished with 13 and Haskell scored 10. Elijah Cobb led the team with nine rebounds and also scored eight points. Bastianoni finished with a game-high 25 points and nine rebounds while two other Nighthawks scored in double figures.
Emmanuel fell to the regional host and top-seed Augusta, 83-74, despite winning the second half, 44-43. It took nearly two minutes for either team to get on the board, but it was the Jags who scored first and raced out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back. The home team led by double figures for most of the opening half until a 10-3 Emmanuel run cut the margin to three, 33-30, with 2:26 left in the first. A Chris Dees 3-pointer started the rally and KJ Jones II, the Conference Carolinas Player of the Year, ended it with an empathic dunk. Unfortunately, Augusta closed the half on a 7-0 run for a 40-30 lead at the break capped by a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
On multiple occasions in the second half the Lions were able to get the deficit down to four points, but each time the Jags responded with a run to push the lead back to double figures. Dees finished with a team-high 24 points for Emmanuel while Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year Tavarus Webb added 21. Jasper Gibson scored 15 and Jones II recorded a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Tyshaun Crawford led the Jags with a game-high 29 points while Ja’Queze Kirby added 10.
North Georgia will face No. 3 seed Lincoln Memorial in the regional semifinals on Sunday, March 12 at 5 p.m. while the Jags will face the Catawba/USC Aiken winner at 7:30 p.m.