MILLEDGEVILLE, GA – Freshman forward Storm Clonch came off the Francis Marion University bench to tally season-highs of 14 points and nine rebounds, but the Patriots were unable to overcome a hot-shooting start by Georgia College as the Bobcats held on for a 94-82 victory, Saturday afternoon (Dec. 15) in Peach belt Conference men's basketball action.

Francis Marion drops to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the PBC.  The Patriots will play host to conference divisional foe USC Aiken on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the squad's final game before the Christmas break.

Clonch connected on 7-of-9 shots from the floor.  Junior guard Evrik Gary and sophomore swingman Dustin Jones each tallied 13 points.

Nate Hamilton led Georgia College (4-3, 1-1) with 23 points coming off the bench.  He hit on 5-of-10 three-point attempts and led five Bobcats in double digits.

Georgia College scored the game's first seven points and never trailed.  The Bobcat advantage grew to 20-9 and eventually to 31-15 at the midway point of the first stanza.  Georgia College led 64-43 at halftime as the Bobcats connected on 64.5 percent (20-of-31) of their first-half shots, including 12-of-17 three-point attempts.  Ironically, Georgia College missed all seven of its three-pointers after halftime.

Francis Marion managed to trim the deficit to 13 points, 80-67, after two Gary free throws with still 8:20 remaining.  Neither team would score over the next 1:40, but then the Bobcats answered with eight straight points to push the margin back to 21 points.

The final margin of 12 points was as close as the Patriots would get in the second half.

FMU committed a season-low six turnovers and led 21-6 in points-off-turnovers.  However, the Patriots hit on only 40 percent of their field goal attempts, and only 7-of-32 from beyond the arc.   

12/15/12 3:30 p.m. at Milledgeville, Ga.
GEORGIA COLLEGE 94, FRANCIS MARION 82

FRANCIS MARION (4-2, 0-1 PBC)
Storm Clonch 7-9 0-1 14; Evrik Gary 3-8 6-7 13; Dustin Jones 4-10 3-5 13;
Chris Rhodes 4-11 0-0 9; Nequan Melvin 4-5 0-0 8; Robert Carpenter 2-4 0-0
6; Cameron Lee 2-6 0-0 5; Tyler Deihl 1-7 2-2 4; Mi'Kyel Nero 2-5 0-0 4;
Clayton Williams 2-10 0-0 4; Alex Tucker 1-3 0-0 2; Antonio Freeman 0-2 0-0
0; Sam Caron 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-80 11-15 82.
GEORGIA COLLEGE (4-3, 1-1 PBC)
Nate Hamilton 5-10 8-10 23; Aaron Robinson 5-7 3-8 14; Scott Ferguson 4-9
3-4 12; Royal Thomas 3-4 4-7 10; Quin Bivins 4-8 0-0 10; Ryan Blumenthal 2-4
2-2 7; Tarrence Chatman 3-4 1-2 7; Ryan Lively 2-4 0-0 6; David Wagner 1-1
3-4 5. Totals 29-51 24-37 94.
Halftime: Georgia College 64 Francis Marion 43
3-point goals--Francis Marion 7-32 (Robert Carpenter 2-3; Dustin Jones 2-6;
Cameron Lee 1-4; Chris Rhodes 1-2; Evrik Gary 1-3; Antonio Freeman 0-1;
Clayton Williams 0-5; Mi'Kyel Nero 0-1; Tyler Deihl 0-6; Storm Clonch 0-1),
Georgia College 12-24 (Nate Hamilton 5-10; Quin Bivins 2-6; Ryan Lively 2-4;
Aaron Robinson 1-1; Ryan Blumenthal 1-2; Scott Ferguson 1-1). Fouled
out--Francis Marion-Robert Carpenter, Georgia College-None.
Rebounds--Francis Marion 39 (Storm Clonch 9), Georgia College 41 (Scott
Ferguson 12). Assists--Francis Marion 14 (Clayton Williams 4), Georgia
College 20 (Aaron Robinson 6). Total fouls--Francis Marion 23, Georgia
College 14. Technical fouls--Cameron Lee, Georgia College-TEAM. A-288