AASU closes basketball season with Senior Night, Homecoming highlights

The homecoming festivities came to a close with the AASU basketball teams matching up against Francis Marion University (FMU) on Feb. 27.

It was also senior night, and both the men's and women's teams took time to show some appreciation to their senior players for all they have done in their time at AASU.

The Lady Pirates faced the uneasy task of trying to knock off the No. 18-ranked Lady Patriots in their final game of the year.

During the first half the Lady Pirates looked as though they were going to hang with FMU throughout the game. But a 14-4 to end the half gave the Lady Patriots a nine-point lead, 51-42.

Coming out of halftime FMU took over the game. A combination of high defensive pressure and quick scoring offense left the Lady Pirates scrambling for answers.

Those answers didn't come as FMU cruised to an easy 104-81 victory. Despite the loss, AASU head coach Matt Schmidt was still proud of his team, especially the seniors, for enduring the rough season they have had this year.

"They went out battling. I'm proud of their effort and appreciate everything they have done for their career and Armstrong women's basketball," Schmidt said.

Despite the Pirate men's team leading by as much as 17 in the first half, it took a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds to go in the game by Keron McKenzie to seal the deal for AASU.

In the first half, the game appeared to be all Pirates. AASU was in total control of the flow of the game, and there was nothing FMU could do to stop them.

Going into intermission, the Pirates were up by 15, 46-31, shooting 55.6 percent from the floor, hitting 8-14 3-pointers and were 8-10 from the free-throw line.

But FMU came out on fire in the second half. The Patriots went on a 22-4 run to open the half to go up 56-53 on the Pirates taking their first lead of the game since being up 5-3 in the first half.

After giving up such a huge point margin the Pirates could have just packed it in, but they refused to quit.

With just 27 second to go in the game McKenzie made two free throws to cut the Patriots' lead to just one, 76-75.

Then Patrick Shokpeka grabbed the rebound after a FMU miss on the other end to give the Pirates a chance to set up for the win with just 19 to go.

Gabriel Robinson drove into the hole and kicked it back out to the perimeter. The Pirates kept the ball along the perimeter and after a couple quick passes found McKenzie, who had a wide-open look from three, and he knocked down the game-winning shot for AASU.  

"It's a surreal feeling, to go out like that in our last home game. It's just a great feeling," McKenzie said.

With the win the Pirates picked up their seventh win in the last nine games. And after starting out the conference season 0-9 the Pirates (7-11 PBC) will play in the Peach Belt Conference tournament as the four seed from the East Division.

"I'm proud of our kids and what they've accomplished this season," said head coach Jeremy Luther. "It's a credit to our team for keeping the faith."