March 19, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Top-seeded Georgetown College (Ky.) claimed the NAIA record for all-time tournament victories with an 83-59 win against Emmanuel College (Ga.) Wednesday in the first round of the 2008 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship at Municipal Auditorium.

The Tigers broke a tie with Central Washington University for the tournament mark of 46 wins. Georgetown improves to 47-27 all-time in NAIA tournament competition. The Tigers remain the only undefeated team in NAIA Division I this season at 33-0 and advance to Friday's second round play. Georgetown will face either Trevecca Nazarene University (Tenn.) or the University of Mobile (Ala.) in the round of 16 Friday at 4:30 p.m. CST.

Georgetown shot 53.1 percent in the second half to pull away for the win. In addition, the Tigers made 9-of-16 shots from three-point range. Defensively, Georgetown limited Emmanuel to just 29.9 percent from the floor (20-of-67).  

In the first half, the Tigers led by double digits on several occasions before Emmanuel trimmed the deficit to 27-21 on a basket by Jeremy Tate with 4:17 remaining in the period. Georgetown closed the half on a 9-3 run to take a 36-24 lead at the intermission. The Tigers broke from the gates quickly to start the second half, scoring the first 11 points of the period to build its lead to 47-24 with 17:58 remaining.

Gordon Chase led the Georgetown attack with 19 points, while Marlon Mahorn came off the bench to post 18 points and seven rebounds. Justin Taylor contributed 12 points and a game-high five steals, and Jerry Turner had 11 points for the Tigers. Demetrius Guoins pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds for Georgetown.

Emmanuel, which was making its first appearance at the NAIA Division I National Championship, finishes its season with a record of 16-18. The Lions were led by Tedrick Hudson, who posted game-high totals of 28 points and 13 rebounds. Preston Jackson was the only other Emmanuel player to score in double digits with 10 points.