The North Georgia Nighthawks won their first-ever Peach Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Championship on Saturday 70-60 over Flagler College. With the win, North Georgia earns the PBC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and made a case for perhaps hosting the NCAA regional next week. The NCAA selections will be announced on Sunday night.
North Georgia opened up a double-digit lead in the first half. Leading 10-9, the Nighthawks went on a 10-2 run to lead by nine. That lead reached 10 with 5:19 to play following a Cayden Charles (6'3''-G) jumper, but those would be the last points for UNG for the next four minutes as Flagler came back. The Saints' Destin Clark (6'3''-G) went on a one-man scoring spree, hitting back-to-back three-pointers and a pair of free throws as part of a 11-0 Flagler run. Malik Bryant (6'3''-G) capped the run with a three-pointer with 1:32 to play that gave Flagler a 27-26 lead. The two teams traded buckets with UNG's Giancarlo Bastianoni (6'8''-F) scoring with four seconds left to give the Nighthawks a 30-29 halftime lead.
"We started a little bit better than we have the last couple of games, we just played," said UNG head coach Dan Evans. "Our ability to stay the course, to have people step up really came through. Flagler played really well, they made shots on us. But our ability to rebound down the stretch made it happen. Our players will forever champions and no one can ever take that from them. It's really a testament to the discipline of our players."
UNG started the second half much as they started the first, opening up an early lead that grew to 38-29 less than three minutes in. But Flagler, just as they had done, responded with a Jax Bouknight (6'1''-G) thre-pointer and Tyler Collier (6'8''-F) jumper to cut that lead to four. Flagler cut the lead to three with 7:18 to play on a jumper from Mason Manning (6'1''-G), but that would be a close as they would get at UNG went on an 8-3 run capped by free throws from Champion. Flagler answered yet again, cutting the lead to four, 59-55, with 3:44 to play after a Jalen Barr (6'4''-G/F) free throw, but UNG scored six in a row to put the game out of reach.
UNG's Frank Champion was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player with a game-high 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting. The junior forward also led the team with four assists and added five rebounds. He averaged 24 points per game during the tournament, shooting 67% from the field.
"This is unbelievable," said Champion. "Us as a team, we've been through so much this year, its really tough to explain. We've just been persistent all year. It's a championship-level game, we just stayed the course. We trust each other and we came out on top."
Charles, who was named All-Tournament, scored 10 points and led UNG with seven rebounds and five blocked shots. Bastianoni finished with 13.
Clark led the Saints with 17 points while Bouknight finished with 15 and Barr had five points with 10 rebounds.

PeachBelt Final: North Georgia - Flagler 70-60

PeachBelt Semifinals:
North Georgia - Columbus State 58-53
Flagler - Georgia College & State 76-64

PeachBelt Quarterfinals:
USC Aiken - Georgia College & State 71-83
North Georgia - Georgia Southwestern 77-73
Lander - Columbus State 54-65
Flagler - Augusta 81-70

Courtesy of peachbeltconference.org

All-Tournament MVP: Frank Champion (6'7''-F) of N.Georgia
Player of the Year: Tyler Johnson (6'2''-G-2001) of USC Aiken
Defensive Player of the Year: Jalen Barr (6'4''-G/F) of Flagler
Freshman of the Year: Marcus Overstreet (6'9''-C/F) of USCB
Coach of the Year: Mark Vanderslice of USC Aiken

All-PeachBelt First Team 2024

Champion

Horn

Johnson

Legiste

White

First Team
Frank Champion (6'7''-F) of N.Georgia
Tehree Horn (6'3''-G-2001) of USC Aiken
Tyler Johnson (6'2''-G-2001) of USC Aiken
Inady Legiste (6'7''-F-2002) of Lander
AJ White (5'10''-PG) of N.Georgia

All-PeachBelt Second Team 2024

Bryant

Clark

Gardner

Johnson

Rigsbee

Second Team
Malik Bryant (6'3''-G) of Flagler
Destin Clark (6'3''-G) of Flagler
Demitri Gardner (6'4''-G) of Augusta
Jalen Johnson (5'11''-PG) of GSW
Brendan Rigsbee (6'3''-G) of Georgia Coll.

All-PeachBelt Third Team 2024

Adderton

Burwell

Cooper

McCoy

Overstreet

Third Team
Jarrett Adderton (6'3''-G) of Columbus St.
Phillip Burwell (6'2''-G) of Lander
Jacob Cooper (5'10''-PG) of Lander
Jalen McCoy (6'5''-G-2002) of USC Aiken
Marcus Overstreet (6'9''-C/F) of USCB

PeachBelt All-Tournament Team 2024

Brown

Chism

Barr

Bouknight

Charles

Champion

All-Tournament Team
Kordell Brown (6'6''-F) of Columbus St.
Luke Chism (6'4''-G) of Georgia Coll.
Jalen Barr (6'4''-G/F) of Flagler
Jax Bouknight (6'1''-G) of Flagler
Cayden Charles (6'3''-G) of N.Georgia
Frank Champion (6'7''-F) of N.Georgia