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

March 26, 2022 Central Georgia Sports Report

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