March 22, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Top-seeded Georgetown College (Ky.) advanced to its 11th NAIA Fab Four with an 88-84 victory against Robert Morris College (Ill.) Saturday at Municipal Auditorium in the quarterfinal round of the 2008 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship.
The Tigers held on down the stretch in a game that was not decided until the final seconds. Georgetown keeps its perfect season alive at 34-0 and will meet No. 5 seed Mountain State University (W.Va.) on Monday in a national semifinal contest. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. CST. This will be Georgetown's first visit to the NAIA Tournament semifinal round since 2004, when the Tigers were also paired with Mountain State. The Cougars defeated Georgetown 96-77 on their way to the 2004 title.
Senior forward Gus Chase and junior guard David Graham each scored a team-high 20 points for Georgetown, while senior guard Justin Taylor recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Kyle Saxton chipped in with 10 points off the bench for the Tigers.
Clinging to an 85-84 lead, junior guard Demetrius Guoins was fouled on an inbounds play and made two free throws to give Georgetown an 87-84 lead with 12 seconds to play. Robert Morris pushed the ball up to junior guard Andre White, who was fouled while attempting a three-point shot with 6.8 seconds to go. White was off the mark on all three attempts, and Guoins grabbed the rebound off the final miss. He was fouled and made one of two attempts with 5.9 seconds remaining to clinch the win for the Tigers.
The Georgetown/Robert Morris game featured 15 ties and seven lead changes. Both teams shot well from the floor in the second half, with the Tigers making 55.9 percent of their field goal tries (19-of-34) while the Eagles hit on 51.7 percent of their attempts (15-of-29).
Robert Morris held the lead on three different occasions in the second half, with the last coming at 50-48 following a basket and free throw by senior forward Othyus Jeffers with 13:40 to play. Georgetown regained the momentum and eventually took an eight-point lead, 74-66, thanks to a 9-3 run. The Eagles countered when Jeffers scored eight consecutive points to help the Eagles tie the game at 74-74 with 4:27 to play. A basket by Graham on the Tigers' next possession put Georgetown in front to stay.
Jeffers led all scorers with 25 points for Robert Morris. He also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Junior guard terry Dunlap added 19 points along with four assists, while White posted 14 points. Robert Morris ends its season with an overall record of 28-4. The Eagles had reached the NAIA Tournament semifinal round in each of the last three years.
GAME NOTES -
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Georgetown:
*Picks up its 49th NAIA Tournament win, which extends the Tigers' all-time record
*Will be making its 11th NAIA Fab Four appearance, and first since 2004
*Georgetown met Mountain State in 2004 national semifinals, with Mountain winning 96-77
*Tigers are making their NAIA-record 17th consecutive tournament visit
*Georgetown is 3-0 against teams from the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference
Robert Morris:
*Ended its streak of NAIA Fab Four appearances at three
*Othyus Jeffers scored at least 25 points in each of his last six games
*Marks just the second time since NAIA Tournament returned to Municipal Auditorium that a school from Illinois will not be in the national semifinal round
