Men’s team 3 points shy of Elite Eight

The Bobcats had a season to remember, nearly doubling their win total from the previous year and advancing to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen.

GCSU defeated Presbyterian College 77-58 in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional on Sunday, March 12. Guards Shejdie Childs and Andre Smith led the way for the Bobcats with career high scoring performances. Childs cashed in 17 points and Smith topped that with 22 points.

GCSU failed to reach the Elite Eight with a heartbreaking loss to defending national champion Virginia Union University on Tuesday, March 14. Aaron Clark shined in the game with a career high of 29 points but Virginia Union made their free throws to keep the game out of reach.

GCSU Head Coach Terry Sellers, is now in his 29th year coaching and 13th year coaching at GCSU. He had a lot to say about how proud he is of his team.

“This has been one of the most rewarding seasons I ever had,” Sellers said. “The players have worked extremely hard all season and they all got along really well. There were a few games that looked like we were going to lose, but we pulled out of it.”

The Bobcats closed out the regular season at Lander University in Greenwood, S.C. at the Peach Belt Conference tournament. The Bobcats had 20 wins and eight loses this season after playing Armstrong Atlantic State University in the Peach Belt Conference semifinals. The Bobcats lost with a final score of 74-72.

Although the Bobcats came up short in the conference tournament, they were named regular season co-champions, taking a 4th league title after being picked to finish 7th in the preseason coaches poll. The Bobcats were one of four PBC schools to qualify for this year’s NCAA tournament.

The team had 10 returning players, and six seniors, four of which were starters. Sellers said that the seniors have really shown great leadership.

Senior Jeremy Mayweather was named Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year.

Mayweather was ranked sixth in the league in scoring with 14.6 points per game, and he was 4th in blocked shots with 35. He had five games in which he scored 20 points or more, and he is the 2nd player from the GCSU basketball team to be named Player of the Year, after Tim Jones took the award in the 1996-1997 season.

Senior Bryan Harrison was also named to the All-Conference team. Harrison ranks 11th in the league; he scored 13.8 points per game. Harrison is a top player at point guard and shooting guard. Cooper Sellers and Childs, who transferred from New Hampshire, also play the point guard position.

Sellers was named the Peach Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year. This was Sellers ’3rd time receiving this honor. He was picked 7th out of eleven teams in the preseason coaches’ poll. Sellers has led the Bobcats to win three Peach Belt Conference Championships (1997, 1999 and 2000).

“The coach gets this award because of the players’ hard work,” Sellers said.

Maurice Smith is in his 2nd year as the Graduate Assistant Coach with the Bobcats; he graduated from GCSU in 2001 and is currently working on a Master’s Degree.

“I am extremely excited because it’s been a while since the team has won a regular season championship,” Smith said. “This team is a great group of guys that love being around one another.”

Aaron Gibbs, one of the shooting guards, said he felt great about how the season went.

“This is a tough conference we played in and to win the regular season has been awesome,” Gibbs said. “The biggest blessing of the whole season this year has been just hanging out with all the guys on the team. It’s been fun just knowing all these guys.”

Bobcats earned their first 20 win season since 1999-2000.

“I can honestly say the team has exceeded my goals for the season. They have come through time and time again,” Sellers said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 24 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry