GCSU stuns No. 17 Pacers in PBC Tournament quarterfinals

Richard Crawford III and Luke Chism combined for 39 points to lead Georgia College & State University to an 83-71 upset victory over 17th-ranked University of South Carolina-Aiken in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Marvin Vanover Peach Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Wednesday (March 6) evening at USC Aiken Convocation Center.



The Bobcats, who are seeded eighth in the tournament, improved to 15-14 and will advance to Thursday's (March 7) semifinal against the winner of No. 4 seed Flagler College-No. 5 Augusta University quarterfinal game later Wednesday. USC Aiken, which was the top seed, fell to 23-6 and will have to wait until Sunday (March 10) evening to see if they will earn at-large berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament.



The GCSU victory was the first for a No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed at the PBC Tournament since 2006 when Lander University upset No. 1 seed Columbus State University 81-74.



After Tyler Johnson connected on a three-pointer for USC Aiken 22 seconds into the game, the Bobcats responded with 17 unanswered points to up up a 17-3 lead after Chism nailed a jumper with 14:27 remaining in the first half. A Chism free throw with five seconds left in the half gave the Bobcats a 38-33 lead at the intermission.



USC Aiken briefly retook the lead at 45-44 after a Tehree Horn layup with 14:00 left, but the Bobcats took the lead for good 52-49 on a Jake Mooney three-pointer with 11:28 to go. The Bobcats pushed their lead back to double figures when Austin Sloan hit two free throws with 29 seconds left to take a 79-69 lead. GCSU hit 22 of its 27 attempts from the charity stripe.



Crawford led the Bobcats with 20 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, including hitting all three three-pointers. Crawford also was perfect from the charity stripe. Chism finished with 19 points as he went 8-of-12 from the floor. Sloan finished in double figures with 13 points, while Brendan Rigsbee and Brady Spence had nine a piece. Spence also pulled down eight rebounds, while Rigsbee had seven.





About GCSU Athletics:

Owning the top Academic Success Rate among all public colleges and universities in Division II for three consecutive academic years, the Georgia College & State University Department of Athletics sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. GCSU Athletics has won four consecutive Presidents' Awards for Academic Excellence, and are two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup and four-time winners of the PBC Institution of the Year Sportsmanship Award. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' continued appearances in postseason competition, as well as high-level academic success and community-service involvement. Bobcat Athletics embodies the mantra of "Graduating Champions for Life." Sign up at @GCSUBobcats on all social media outlets for up-to-the-minute reports or subscribe to the GSCU Athletics e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and to interact with GCSU Athletics.