PBC Releases Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket

Bracket

It is not often the last shot of the regular season decides if a team will advance to the postseason or not, but that’s what the PBC got on Saturday as the 2010 regular season came to an end and the tournament brackets were released by the conference office.

Armstrong Atlantic State’s Keron McKenzie drained a three-pointer with six seconds left, part of a 26-point night, that propelled the Pirates past Francis Marion 78-76 and into the fourth seed in the east for the 2010 show. AASU won seven of their last nine games of the year to make the postseason.

As a reward, the Pirates will get to face the top seed in the east and #3 team in the country, Augusta State, on their home floor Wednesday, March 3. The Jaguars finished their regular schedule, having already won the top seed and PBC regular-season title, with an 82-55 win over Lander. Alex Smith had 21 points and seven boards while Tye Beal added 13 for ASU.

McKenzie’s shot also determined the fate of Francis Marion who, with that loss to AASU, falls to the #3 seed in the east. Nobody cheered harder for McKenzie and the Pirates than USC Aiken, who will host FMU as the #2 seed this Wednesday. USCA fell to King College in a non-conference game Saturday, but will play the tournament on their home floor where they have advanced to the championship game for two years in a row.

In the west, GCSU was already locked in at #1 before beating North Georgia 84-68. Ty Rowland had 26 points, six rebounds and four assists, hitting six of eight three-pointers, while Graham Martin added 19 points, hitting all 12 of his free throws. The loss proved costly for North Georgia, who fell to the #3 seed in the west and must now travel to Montevallo in the first round.

Montevallo gets the #2 seed and first-round home game after downing Columbus State 82-63. Freddy Little scored 21 points while Gerald January added 19 for the Falcons, who as a team shot 52% from the field.

Columbus State's loss was Clayton State's gain as the Lakers locked up the #4 seed an hour before they took the floor to beat Georgia Southwestern 69-41.  Brandon Robinson had 17 points and six rebounds for the Lakers while Torren Greene added 13 points.

All PBC Tournament first-round games will be played on Wednesday, March 3, at 7:00 pm (local time). The winners of the four games will advance to the final four March 6-7 at the USCA Convocation Center in Aiken, S.C. The semifinals begin on March 6 at 6:00 with the finals on Sunday at 4:30.

2010 Peach Belt Conference
Men’s Basketball Tournament

Wednesday, March 3
#W4 Clayton State at #W1 GCSU 7:00
#W3 North Georgia at #W2 Montevallo 7:00 (CST)
#E4 Armstrong Atlantic at #E1 Augusta State 7:00
#E3 Francis Marion at #E2 USC Aiken 7:00

Saturday, March 6
E4-1 Winner vs. W2-3 Winner 6:00
W4-1 Winner vs. E2-3 Winner 8:00

Sunday, March 7
Championship Game 4:30