Athletes Beyond Bartow: Davis earns all-PBC honors, leads Pats to NCAA at-large berth
On the college hardwoods, former Cartersville standout Ryan Davis was named to the all-Peach Belt Conference second team this past week. Davis has led his Francis Marion Patriots club into the NCAA D-II national tournament as an at-large team. Another Cartersville native, Ashton Hagans, and the Kentucky Wildcats begin their post-season efforts this week at the SEC Tournament. Other updates include local athletes in collegiate wrestling, tennis, and track and field. NOTE: This week's update for baseball and softball may be viewed in a separate article at this LINK. NOTE: Updates contributed by Nicholas Sullivan, The Daily Tribune News
PRO BASKETBALL
Elijah Robinson (Villa San Martin, Argentina; Excel Christian) — Robinson posted five points, five rebounds and two assists in a 125-115 loss to Union SF on Wednesday.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Ryan Davis (Francis Marion Sr., Cartersville) — Davis garnered second-team all-Peach Belt Conference honors for his work this season. He scored six points with six rebounds in a quarterfinal win over Young Harris on Wednesday in the conference tournament. Davis produced a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double in the semifinals. He added four assists, but Francis Marion fell to USC-Aiken on. Even still, the Patriots were selected for the Division-II tournament. Francis Marion will face Augusta in the Southeast Regional on Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ashton Hagans (Kentucky Fr., Cartersville native) — Hagans closed out the regular season with back-to-back double-digit scoring performances. He finished with 10 points against Ole Miss and 14 versus Florida. He wound up with a total of five rebounds and four assists across the two wins. Second-seeded Kentucky earned a double-bye into the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament. The Wildcats will face either seventh-seeded Ole Miss or No. 10 seed Alabama at 7 p.m. Friday.
Jana Morning (Berry College So., Cass) — Morning was named the Berry College women's player of the year at the Northwest GA Tip-Off Club banquet last Tuesday. She averaged 9.4 points per game, while ranking in the top-10 in the Southern Athletic Association with 2.7 assists per game, a 70.7 free throw percentage and 38 total steals.
Jonathan Pritchett (Vermont Tech So., Woodland) — Pritchett finished with six points, three rebounds and two assists, as Vermont Tech fell to Penn State Wilkes-Barre in the semifinals of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association national championship tournament.
TENNIS
Peyton Gollhofer (Ball State Sr., Cartersville native) — Gollhofer just went through her worst week of the season, and it says more about just how fantastic she's been that finishing 1-1 in both singles and doubles matches makes for a rough stretch. Gollhofer won 6-3, 6-0 in singles play against Azusa Pacific on Thursday but fell in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 versus her UC Riverside opponent Saturday. It marks her first singles loss of the season. In doubles action, Gollhofer again paired with Isabelle Dohanics, dropping a tough 6-4 decision Thursday and earning a 6-1 triumph Saturday. Overall, Ball State improved to 10-2 on the year with team wins on both days.
TRACK AND FIELD
Trevor Knowles (Albion So., Woodland) — Knowles placed seventh in the men's high jump at the Southern Invitational hosted by Birmingham Southern over the weekend.
WRESTLING
Jake Huffine (Chattanooga Jr., Woodland) — A 3-1 showing at the Southern Conference championships wasn't enough to earn Huffine a spot in the NCAA tournament, but it did land him in third place — a couple of notches higher than his fifth seed in the 133-pound division. Huffine secured a 4-2 win in the quarterfinals, avenging a regular-season loss to his Gardner-Webb opponent. He fell in the semifinals to the No. 1 seed before rallying for third with a 13-3 major decision and 10-3 minor decision in the consolation semifinals and consolation finals, respectively.
