Top Seeds Advance to CAC Men’s Basketball Championship Semifinals
Top-seeded Georgia Gwinnett College and No. 2-seed Arkansas Baptist College used two distinctly different paths to score quarterfinal victories in Thursday's exciting action at the 2026 Continental Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship, being played in GGC's Convocation Center in Lawrenceville.
While GGC broke through with a season-high offensive performance in a 114-75 victory over Alice Lloyd College (Kentucky), Arkansas Baptist held on for a 69-68 triumph over Carolina University (North Carolina).
The host Grizzlies (24-5) advance to play the semifinal round, playing the winner of Friday's 3 p.m. quarterfinal game between No. 4-seed Morris College (South Carolina) and No. 5-seed Fisher College (Massachusetts). Meanwhile, the Buffaloes (16-9) will play the winner of the 1 p.m. quarterfinal contest between No. 3-seed Washington Adventist University (Maryland) and No. 6-seed Florida College. The game times for the semifinal contests on Saturday, February 28, will be announced later by CAC officials.
Here is a recap of Thursday's exciting quarterfinal games:
Game 1: No. 2 Arkansas Baptist College 69, No. 7 Carolina University 68
The Buffaloes held off a furious late comeback and successfully defended two shot attempts in the closing seconds to secure a one-point victory over a Carolina team determined to repeat last season's postseason surge when it made a memorable run at the championship as the No. 8 seed. Arkansas Baptist built a commanding 14-point lead, at 63-49, before the Bruins (6-21) mounted their comeback bid. They methodically sliced into that advantage and DJ Evans' jump shot pulled the team within a point, at 69-68, with 1:41 remaining. Neither team would score the rest of the way and Carolina had several opportunities to tie the game or even take the lead with free throws, 3-point field goals and layups down the stretch.
Treylon Sawyzer came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points, making eight of his nine field goals for the Buffaloes. Christopher Hood had 10 of his 14 in the second half while making six of his 10 shots. Meanwhile, Tray'von Thomas collected all 12 of his points in the first half.
Shawn Woodson had game-high scoring honors with 25 points while playing 34 minutes off Carolina's bench. The team had three other double-digit scorers: Tristan Kuska with 12 points (and nine rebounds) and Conrad Linhart and Evans both with 10 points.
Game 2: No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett College 114, No. 8 Alice Lloyd College 75
The Grizzlies used a productive second-half offensive performance to pull away from the pesky Eagles after the tournament hosts led 47-41 at halftime. Making 67.6 percent of its field goals (23-of-34), 50 percent of its 3-pointers (7-of-14) and 14 free throws in the second half, GGC outscored the Eagles by a 67-34 margin to post a season-high 114 points on the scoreboard.
Devontre Chaney showcased why he was named the CAC's 2025-26 Player of the Year by scoring a game-high 25 points and having 10 rebounds. He was most efficient and effective over the course of the second half. That's when he made all four of his field goals, one 3-pointer, both of his two free throws, and collected five assists.
A jump shot by Chaney ignited the Grizzlies' offensive thrust that was followed by a tip-in from Amari Morgan, 3-pointers by Jaheim Berry and Brasen James along with another by Chaney, and a dunk by Morgan to open a commanding 20-point lead, at 78-58, with 10:19 remaining in the game. The team kept up the pressure as 3-pointers by James, Berry and Mario Hill Jr. joined with a layup from Morgan put GGC on top by 31 points, at 94-63, with 6:24 left.
Alice Lloyd never got the margin under 30 points the rest of the game.
James came off the bench to score 19 points as the Grizzlies had five double-figure offensive performances and spread their record-setting point total among 10 players. Drew Kramer added 13 points, Berry had 11 points and Patrick Johnson contributed 10 points in his first start of the season.
Evin Eversole had 21 points and 12 rebounds while Naz Welch added 19 points and Desmier Hatchett had 11 points to lead Alice Lloyd (11-17), which never led in the game but pulled to a 41-41 tie with 1:33 left in the first half. The team was held scoreless for the rest of the period.