AUGUSTA, Ga. – Queens men's basketball was unable to overcome a hot night from Augusta State's George Johnson, as the Royals fell to the tournament's top seed 71–60 in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Sunday night.
“It was a great game," said Royals head coach Wes Long. "It was hard-fought by two really good basketball teams. They had a few good runs at the end of the game. George Johnson was great and made some very hard shots.”
Johnson converted nine of his 19 attempts, including eight-of-14 from deep, to score a game-high 31 points in the Jaguars' 48th consecutive win inside Christenberry Fieldhouse.
The first half featured a pair of runs for each team. The Royals took advantage of a one-for-14 start from Augusta State to take a 17-2 lead in the first 11 minutes of action. The Jaguars rallied back, converting nine of their next 14 shots to take a 28-26 lead into halftime.
With over seven minutes remaining, the Jaguars began to pull away, stretching their lead to eight on a Johnson three-pointer to go ahead 54-46.
Daniel Bailey (Irmo, S.C., Hammond ) answered with an and-one three-point play to pull the Royals back within five.
The Royals would continue to cut into the lead, coming within four at 57-53 on an
Antonio Stabler (Garner, N.C., Wakefield) jumper at the 4:51 mark.
Stabler picked up his 5th foul on the ensuing possession, leading to a technical foul on Long.
Though only converting one of the four free throws, the pause in action proved to be costly as the Jaguars tallied the next six points to push the lead back to 10 with less than three minutes remaining.
Despite shooting 42.9 percent from the field in the second half, the Royals hit just two their ten three-point attempts as their bid for a spot in the championship game came to an end.
While the Royals' season comes to an end, Long is proud of the program's progress over the past year.
"In two years we flipped our records. We have done it with these young men. I am really proud of who we are. We are going to have more good seasons. We are not finished."
The Jaguars will meet Anderson – whom defeated Montevallo earlier in the day – Monday night at 7 pm in the tournament championship.
