The Central Georgia Sports Report

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Friday's News 'n Notes: Scoreboard; Warner Robins' Phillips, Mercer pair in portal; Mercer, GC BSB; Augusta goes for nat'l title; Hawks, UGA, Falcons, Braves; NCAA hoops, MLB, NFL, NASCAR

News and notes of interest to Central Georgia, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

 

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Alumni Update

Warner Robins grad Phillips on the move

          As expected, former Warner Robins standout Nelson Phillips is leaving Georgia State, and has entered the transfer portal.

          After missing last year with a knee injury, Phillips played decent minutes for much of the season, but not late in the year.

          The redshirt junior hadn’t played since a 65-58 win against Louisiana on Feb. 25. He didn’t play in the Sun Belt tournament and did not make the trip to the NCAA Tournament game against Gonzaga.

          He started six of 47 games – including four straight this year – and departs averaging 18.7 minutes, 7 points and 3.5 rebounds a game. He shot 45.6 percent from 3 in 2019-20.      

 

As are Mercer’s Alvarez and Bafuto

          Neftali Alvarez was a good transfer for Greg Gary when he got the Mercer men’s basketball job, coming from Fairfield after earning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Rookie team honors.

          But Alvarez is on the move again, entering the transfer portal earlier this week.

          He sat out 2019-20 after the transfer, and started 27 games in 2020-21, leading the Bears with 13.3 points a game, to go with 4.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds.

          Last season, he played in nine games through early December, and was out until Feb. 5 against Chattanooga. He averaged 12.6 points and 3.1 rebounds in 2021-22.

          Victor Bafuto, a redshirt senior center, entered the portal recently as well. The 6-10 Brazilian was a signee of former head coach Bob Hoffman, redshirting in 2017-18.

          He played in 14 games last season, with three starts, for 78 games and seven starts.

          They join a pair of Maconites in the portal. Quay Primas from Central and Javian Mosley, who played at Westside before transferring to a high school in Florida for his senior year, were both dismissed for off-the-court incidents before the season.

 

Around/About Central Georgia

BSB-Bullpen clinches Mercer win at Utah

BSB-Georgia College win streak snapped at North Georgia

 

Around/About Georgia/Southeast

Augusta representing Peach Belt in Division II national championship

          Augusta will go for its first NCAA Division II men’s basketball championship on Saturday against the defending champion.

          Tipoff is 3 p.m. on CBS from the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

          The 33-3 Jags pulled away in the second half Thursday to beat Indiana University of Pa. 76-61 in a semifinal. NW Missouri State topped Black Hills State.

          Tyshuan Crawford set an NCAA Elite Eight mark with a 12-for-12 night for 25 points, to go with 14 rebounds and three blocks

          NW Missouri’s Trevor Hudgins is the two-time reigning National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II player of the year .The Bearcats are 33-5 after their ninth straight regular-season conference title en route to their fourth championship trip in five years.

          This is Augusta’s second championship trip. The Jags reached the Elite Eight in 2008-9-10, making the final in 2008 and losing 87-76 to Winona State. They lost by four and three in the next two Elite Eight trips.

          Kennesaw State still has the Peach Belt’s only national title. The Owls bat Southern Indiana 84-59 in the 2004, and moved up to Division I after the following year, which ended in the first round.

          Augusta head coach Dip Metress is 401-146 in 18 seasons at Augusta and 535-239 in 26 seasons overall.

Arnold lifted the Jaguars in the semifinal

From surprise playoff run to limping again for the Hawks

Gallinari, Young power Atlanta past Golden State

It’s a very, very different spring for Bennett

Quiet McClendon to be louder this fall

UGA’s Dan Jackson talks about The Block

Kendall Milton on the RB room

Falcons’ Smith: ‘I trust Marcus’

Hard-throwing rookie Strider a Braves contender

BSB: Houston County’s Woods’ gets save in UGA road win

Saturday
Women
11:30 a.m., ESPN, NC. State vs. Notre Dame
2 p.m., ESPN, UConn vs. Indiana
4 p.m., ESPN 2, Louisville vs. Tennessee
6:30 p.m., ESPN 2, Michigan vs. South Dakota
Men
6:09 p.m., TBS, Villanova vs. Houston
8:49 p.m., TBS, Arkansas vs. Duke
Sunday
Women
Stanford vs. Texas; South Carolina vs. Creighton
Men
2:20 p.m., CBS, Kansas vs. Miami
After, CBS, North Carolina vs. St. Peter’s
Monday
Women
TBD

NCAA Tournaments

Men’s scores and boxes and schedules

Women’s scores and boxes and schedules

(Note: annoying video at the start)

Busted brackets all over the place

M-The Peacocks keep it going

M-Column: And they can win the national title

W-10th-seed Creighton surprises Iowa State

W-Boston leads South Carolina over North Carolina

M-UNC tops UCLA in battle of blue bloods

M-Kansas blows lead and survives

W-Freshman leads Texas over Ohio State

W-Stanford holds off Maryland

M-Miami gains control late for first Elite Eight

M-Column: Houston can move from past to present

M-Nolan Richardson picks the Hogs to end Krzyzewski’s career

W-Louisville and Tennessee battle for Elite Eight

College basketball tournaments

NIT

CBI

CIT

Women’s NIT

College Basketball

M-UMass hires ex-South Carolina boss Martin

M-Prohm to try it again at Murray State

M-South Carolina’s top scorer heads to portal

W-Three Kentucky players, including standout Edwards, portal bound

MLB/Baseball

LA gives Roberts a 3-year extension

And the Dodgers boss guaranteed a WS win this year

Golf/Tennis

Swiatek clinches No. 1, wins debut at Miami

Auto Racing

Elliott searches for first win in return to Austin

NFL/Football

Browns introduce Watson: ‘I’ve never assaulted any woman’

Column: A dance dressed as a media conference

Bills get OK for $200 mil stadium loan

College Football/South

SEC hires Cutcliffe as special football assistant to commish

College Football

Southern Cal assistant dies, at 45

Oklahoma State’s Gundy gets a boost to $7.5 million

Around the nation/world

NBA scores/games

NHL scores/games

Men’s college basketball

Women’s college basketball