Monday, February 28, 2005 

SAINTS TAKE 2 ND IN SSAC WITH 103-96 WIN OVER EAGLES
Matt Causey Breaks NGCSU Single Season Scoring Record With 34 Points

Dahlonega, Ga. – It took 30 years, but the North Georgia College & State University single season scoring record was shattered tonight by sophomore guard Matt Causey's (Gainesville, Ga.) 710th point in the second half. Causey scored 34 points to led the Saints to a 103-96 win over Faulkner University and a second place finish in the Southern States Athletic Conference.

The school scoring record, formally held by Jim Hyder , had stood since the 1974-1975 season with 709 points. Causey now has 717 points this season and adds another single season record to a growing list. He now owns the record for most points in a season, most assists in a season (214), most free throws made (208), and most free throw attempts (243). Causey is also eyeing the highest scoring average record as well as highest free throw percentage. North Georgia (22-9, 16-6) and the Eagles (17-13, 11-11) raced back and forth down the court for most of the game as Faulkner used a deep bench, high-speed offense, and hounding defense in an attempt to slow down the Saints. The Eagles had the lead through most of the first half thank in large part to the accurate three-point shooting of junior forward Lamont Cobb (Raleigh, N.C.). Cobb went 4-for-6 from behind the arc in the first, but fell into foul trouble with three fouls in the half. North Georgia took the lead with 1:58 left on the clock on a made jumper from junior forward Ryan Franklin (Gainesville, Ga.) to make the score 51-50. A made jumper by Causey before the end of the half stretched the lead to three, but a three pointer at the buzzer by senior guard Kellen Cole (New Brockton, Ala.) tied the score 53-53.

Matt Causey goes up for a shot

With the beginning of the second half, the Saints broke out on a 15-6 run and had a seven point lead four minutes into the game. North Georgia took its largest lead of the game, 83-74, with 9:20 left on the clock, but five minutes later the Eagles had cut the lead down to two off of a shot from behind the arc by freshman forward Brandon Vaughn (Remlap, Ala.).

Causey took over the game in the final minutes and scored the final six out of nine points for the Saints and made two blocks on defense to seal the victory. Following Causey was senior wing Bryce Brickhouse (Norcross, Ga.) who played the final home game of his collegiate career and gave the crowd a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Mark Trust (Winder, Ga.) also scored a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds and had a career high six blocked shots. Franklin tied his season high of 20 points as well in the effort.

Faulkner was led by Cobb's 16 points and five rebounds while Vaughn added 15 points. Freshman guard Bryant Murray (Atlanta, Ga.) and junior guard Ike Davis (Hillsboro, Ala.) each scored 14 points in the loss.

The Eagles remain the sixth seed for the SSAC Tournament and will face third seed Georgia Southwestern State University Thursday at 4:00 p.m. North Georgia takes sole possession of second place and will take on seventh seed Auburn University Montgomery at 8:00 p.m. Thursday night in Marietta on the campus of Southern Polytechnic State University.

Box Score

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