SPRINGFIELD, Mass. --- Augusta State center Garret Siler had 18 messages on his cell phone in the 15 minutes following his team's biggest win in school history.
Mr. Siler and All-American senior forward Tyrekus "A.J." Bowman combined for 35 points as the 10th-ranked Jaguars upset No. 4 Alaska-Anchorage, 56-50, in Thursday night's Final Four game at the MassMutual Center.
Augusta State advances to its first Division II Tournament championship game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised live on CBS.
"I'm playing in the national championship," said Mr. Siler, a Richmond Academy graduate. "It just doesn't sound right."
Kentucky Wesleyan sports information director Roy Pickerill, the dean of Divison II SIDs, found Augusta State coach Dip Metress after the game and gave him a bit of unique information.
"He said, '3.1 million people are going to be watching you play on Saturday,' " Mr. Metress said. "There's no better situation."
The Jaguars improved to 27-6 on the season. Augusta State would set a school record for wins in a season with a victory Saturday against Minnesota's Winona State.
"This is just a great opportunity," Mr. Metress said. "We look forward to the challenge. We know we're going to play a team that's really, really good. But we've played two pretty good teams up here as well."
Against Alaska-Anchorage, Augusta State jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead. The Jaguars fended off the Seawolves' second-half charge for the win.
"During the game, we knew they were going to make a run," Mr. Bowman said. "We were able to withstand their run. Now we play for the national championship Saturday."
GOTTA FOLLOW THE TEAM?
Augusta State's men's basketball team is one victory away from the Division II national championship. It tips off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Springfield, Mass. Can you make it?
PLANES
Ticket price - Roundtrip of $1,068
Departure time 6 a.m. Saturday*
Arrival time 11:30 a.m. Saturday
* If you catch a 6 a.m. flight out of Augusta's Bush Field, you could arrive in Hartford, Conn., before noon. Then, of course, you would rent a car -- for a base cost of as little as $24 per day -- to take you the 27 miles to Springfield, Mass.
TRAINS
You're out of luck -- and out of time. You would have had to leave Columbia's Amtrak station at 4 this morning to get to Springfield in time on Saturday.
AUTOMOBILES
Gas price: $235 (roundtrip)*
Mileage: 935
Travel time: 15 hours
* Calculated for a vehicle that gets 26 miles per gallon, at a cost of $3.27, the national average according to fuelgaugereport.com, AAA's media site for retail gasoline prices
Sources: travelocity.com, fuelgaugereport.com, mapquest.com, amtrak.com
WISH YOU COULD?
You can still catch the action. CBS will televise the championship game. Get an insider's view online with Staff Writer Chris Gay's blog: augustachronicle.com/blogs">style="bold">augustachronicle.com/blogs.
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