USC Aiken To Host 2010 and 2011 PBC Basketball Tournaments

AUGUSTA, GA – The Peach Belt Conference announced that USC Aiken will host the 2010 and 2011 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, extending the tournament’s run in Aiken, S.C. The announcement comes after a vote of the league’s athletic directors which will keep the tournament in the USCA Convocation Center.

The 3,600-seat Convocation Center has hosted the event for the past two seasons. Only Augusta State has hosted the PBC Tournament for four consecutive years with the first four tournaments at the Christenberry Fieldhouse from 1992-95. Tournament hosts serve two-year terms.

“We are thrilled to be returning to Aiken and the Convocation Center,” said PBC Commissioner David Brunk. “The school and the city have done such a wonderful job the past two years that it is very easy for us to return. The facility is one of the jewels in the PBC, attendance has been strong, the crowds have been energetic and we are happy to be able to showcase the Convocation Center and USC Aiken by returning for the next two years.”

The tournament will also feature a new format for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The past two years, the top 10 men’s and women’s teams have come for a five-day event in Aiken. Beginning next year as the PBC returns to a divisional structure, the top four teams in each division will advance to tournament play. The first round of the tournament, played within the division, will be hosted by the higher seed on their home court. The final four men’s and women’s teams will then come to Aiken for the semifinal and final rounds. Tournament dates have yet to be released.

“USC Aiken is excited that the Peach Belt Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament will continue to be held at the beautiful Convocation Center for the next two seasons,” said USC Aiken athletic director Randy Warrick. “We have received a great deal of training in how to host the event over the past two years. We look forward to hosting the other Peach Belt schools and their fans over the course of the next two years. If the next two tournaments are anything like the past two then everyone will be treated to top-notch college basketball.”

The 2009 PBC Tournament drew over 15,000 fans in total, including 3,273 to see the men’s final between USC Aiken and Augusta State, the largest crowd to ever see a PBC Tournament game. The tournament also features the PBC cheerleading, dance team and pep band competitions as well as an art show featuring student artists from the 13 member schools.

Completed in April 2007, the Convocation Center is a multifunctional facility that has eight locker rooms, two practice courts, a center-hanging scoreboard, a multi-camera system for web broadcasts and an LED message board.

USC Aiken had never hosted the PBC Tournament prior to hosting the 17th and 18th Annual PBC Tournaments at the Convocation Center in 2008 and 2009.

With this announcement the PBC Tournament will now have been held in the Aiken/Augusta area on 10 different occasions. Last year’s PBC Tournament marked the eighth time it had been held in the CSRA region.

The Aiken/Augusta region is in the center of the Peach Belt Conference, which has schools in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina currently. The conference is spreading out to Alabama (Montevallo) and Florida (Flagler) in the 2009-10 school year, bringing the total number of conference schools to 13.