AIKEN, S.C. – Freshman guard Cortne’ Baker scored five points in overtime and Francis Marion University sank a season-high 21 free throws to pull out a 72-68 overtime victory at USC Aiken, Wednesday night (Jan. 31) in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action.
Senior guard Dominic Bishop tallied 19 points and seven rebounds before fouling out to lead FMU (6-13, 3-6), which completes the season sweep of the Pacers. Senior forward Raymond Dorsey record his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while senior 6-8 center Kevin Ashford notched his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Seth Leonard led USCA (8-14, 2-7) with 19 points and eight rebounds, but he missed a free throw with two seconds left in regulation that could have given the Pacers the win.
Francis Marion entered the game ranked sixth from the bottom among all NCAA Division II schools in free throw percentage, but the Patriots drained 21 of 31 shots from the charity stripe, including 5-of-6 in the extra period.
FMU led by as many as 14 points (30-16) in the opening half, before settling for a 36-31 halftime advantage. The Pacers scored the opening seven points of the second half to take their first lead of the evening. The lead went back and forth through out the remaining 18 minutes.
A three-pointer by Baker with 20 seconds left gave FMU a 61-59 advantage. However, two Patriot fouls and an FMU turnover all in the final five seconds allowed USCA to force overtime.
After the Pacers scored the opening basket in the extra session, Baker and Nate Morley drained three-pointers, sandwiched around another USCA bucket, to give Francis Marion a 67-65 lead. Larnelle Peterson and Baker hit two free throws and Ashford connected on 1-of-2 from the line, all in the final 1:05 to seal the win.
FMU plays its second of three consecutive road games, Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m at Columbus State University.
1-31-07 7:30 PM at Aiken, S.C. (The Courthouse)
FRANCIS MARION 72, USC AIKEN 68
FRANCIS MARION (6-13, 3-6 PBC)
Bishop, Dominic 6-19 5-5 19; Dorsey, Raymond 4-8 6-9 14; Ashford, Kevin 4-9
2-4 10; Baker, Cortne' 2-7 2-2 8; Peterson, Larnelle 2-5 4-6 8; Morley, Nate
2-5 0-1 6; Burton, Rodrick 1-3 2-4 5; Borojevich, Greg 1-1 0-0 2; Lee, Artis
0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 21-31 72.
USC AIKEN (8-14, 2-7 PBC)
Leonard, Seth 5-9 7-15 19; Brown, Mark 3-8 2-2 10; Gadomski, Jakub 5-12 0-1
10; Oates, Theo 3-6 0-1 7; McMasters, Casey 3-8 0-0 7; Flowers, Rashad 3-5
0-0 6; Pore, Darren 2-3 1-2 6; Oguchi, Kingsley 1-7 1-2 3; Glover, Richard
0-2 0-0 0; Taylor, Shawn 0-1 0-0 0; Shephard, Brandon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
25-62 11-23 68.
Halftime: Francis Marion 36 USC Aiken 31. Regulation: 61-61.
3-point goals-Francis Marion 7-20 (Baker, Cortne' 2-6; Morley, Nate 2-4;
Bishop, Dominic 2-7; Burton, Rodrick 1-2; Peterson, Larnelle 0-1), USC Aiken
7-21 (Leonard, Seth 2-3; Brown, Mark 2-4; McMasters, Casey 1-5; Oates, Theo
1-3; Pore, Darren 1-1; Glover, Richard 0-1; Taylor, Shawn 0-1; Shephard,
Brandon 0-1; Oguchi, Kingsley 0-1; Gadomski, Jakub 0-1). Fouled out--Francis
Marion-Bishop, Dominic; Burton, Rodrick, USC Aiken-Pore, Darren.
Rebounds-Francis Marion 46 (Ashford, Kevin 10; Dorsey, Raymond 10), USC
Aiken 39 (Leonard, Seth 8). Assists-Francis Marion 13 (Bishop, Dominic 4),
USC Aiken 16 (Pore, Darren 4). Total fouls-Francis Marion 25, USC Aiken 24.
A-1019
