GREENWOOD, S.C. – Senior guardTory Harris scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the second half as Armstrong Atlantic State University pulled away to a 78-68 win over Francis Marion University, Friday evening (March 2) in the quarterfinal round of the 2007 Peach Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament. 

 

The Pirates (21-7) post their 13th consecutive win in PBC Tournament openers and advance to Saturday’s second semifinal match-up against the winner of Lander University/Columbus State University. The Patriots end their first season under head coach Gary Edwards at 9-19, and continue a streak of not winning at the PBC Tournament since 1999.

 

Senior guard Dominic Bishop poured in a game-high 28 points, including 19 in the opening frame, to finish two shy of a career-best. Senior forward Raymond Dorsey tallied 18 points and seven rebounds. The Florence native and Wilson High School product ends his three-year career at FMU with 782 points and 472 rebounds, while standing fourth all-time in blocked shots with 94.

 

The Patriots shot 52.1 percent from the field for the game, but 17 Francis Marion turnovers compared to only five miscues for AASU, resulted in a 24-10 deficit in points off turnovers. 

 

The Patriots used a 9-2 run capped off by a Cortne’ Baker three-point play with 13:14 left in the opening half to grab a 13-8 advantage. AASU countered back midway through the half, reeling off a 14-3 spurt to turn a two-point deficit into a 33-24 lead with 5:34 on the clock following two charity tosses by Harris. 

 

Bishop sparked a late first-half Patriot run, scoring seven straight points, and Larnelle Peterson’s trey with 2:08 remaining surged FMU back on top 36-33. William Kane answered with a three-pointer of his own on the ensuing possession as AASU scored the final seven points of the half to lead 40-36 at intermission. 

 

Dorsey converted the second of two free throws with 16:09 remaining in the game to bring the Patriots to within 44-43, but AASU’s defense responded by holding the Patriots without a field goal for 7:06 as Harris’ jumper extended the Pirate lead to 54-45. 

 

The final blow was a 13-3 Pirate run which opened up a five-point game into a 67-52 spread with 5:46 on the clock after a Bryan Taylor lay-up.

 

Taylor, an All-PBC performer from Timmonsville, just missed a double-double for AASU with 17 points (on 7-of-8 shooting) and nine rebounds, while reserve Jamaal Galloway chipped in 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the three-point line. 

 

FMU head coach Gary Edwards said after the game, “I felt like we put ourselves in position to make a run down the stretch. However, Armstrong (Atlantic State) is a good team and they responded to what we did. We couldn’t quite get over that final obstacle. We executed our game plan pretty well, and made them shoot from the outside.

 

“I can’t say enough about the way Raymond (Dorsey) played. He played well against Taylor, who is an All-Conference performer, and I thought in some aspects outplayed him. I am very proud of how far he has come this year. I also thought Dominic (Bishop) had a great game tonight. When they went to the box-and-one to start the second half, we did not respond as well as we could have.”