Pirates Win Second Straight With 76-65 Victory Over Flagler

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Armstrong Atlantic State men's basketball team won its second straight with a 76-65 Peach Belt Conference victory over Flagler on Wednesday evening at Alumni Arena.

The Pirates (7-13, 2-9 PBC) avenged an earlier-season 15-point loss to the Saints (7-12, 2-8 PBC) in which AASU gave up its most points in a single game since 1998. Tonight, the defensive effort was much better.

Both teams shot well in the first half, leading to a 35-all tie at the break. The Pirates hit 15-of-28 shots (53.6 percent) while Flagler's offense mostly came from John Pietkiewicz, who hit four first-half three-pointers en route to 15 points before intermission.

The score was tied eight times and there were seven lead changes until early in the second half, when a Keron McKenzie three-pointer put the Pirates up three, 44-41, with 15:38 remaining. Kenny Moore's layup for Flagler cut the lead to one, 44-43, with 14:08 left, but AASU held the Saints - the PBC's top scoring team at 80.3 points per game - scoreless over the next 6:25, building a 53-43 lead.

Flagler cut the lead to seven on an Adam Dixon three-point play, but never got any closer as AASU made nine straight free throws during the last two minutes to put the game on ice.

Senior Gabriel Robinson led a quartet of Pirates in double figures with 16 points. Sophomore Chris Vanlandingham added 13 points, while Patrick Shokpeka added 12 points and McKenzie finished with 11.

Pietkiewicz led all scorers on the night for the Saints with 21 points to go with eight assists. Eddie Fowler added 12 points. 

The Pirates return to action on Saturday, February 6, with a 3:30 p.m. Peach Belt Conference contest at Francis Marion in Florence, S.C.

Head Coach Jeremy Luther's Post-Game Comments:

On the difference between this game and the Jan. 2 game [97-82 Flagler]: "We're a completely different team from then. We're doing what we term as 'choking the post' and double-teaming. They like to run in transition, so we were ready for that. We had just started to do things differently then, and it paid off."

On the first-half play: "We've been getting teams with muscle. We've been oversized by other teams. In the first half tonight, I felt pretty good about our play. Lots of their points ame from scrambling for shots or long threes. They also had a terrible time guarding us off the dribble. From my experience, teams don't peak or hit their flow until late January. We're starting to click offensively and the guys are responding well."

On being fresh at the end of the last two games: "A lot of this has to do with Marquise [Duvall] and David [Pruett]. Adding David to the mix gives us a true three-guard rotation and Marquise gives us three in the post. The guys feel more confident playing significant minutes and we are able to then add more depth."