COMMONS, FEARS VOTED SOUTH ATLANTIC ALL-REGION
COMMONS NAMED TO FIRST-TEAM; FEARS PLACED ON SECOND-TEAM

AIKEN, S.C. -- USC Aiken’s high-scoring duo of Chris Commons and Jeremy Fears have been honored again, this time being named to the 2007-08 Daktronics All-South Atlantic Region Team. A 6’8” junior from Toledo, Ohio, Commons was named to the five-member first-team while Fears, a 6’5” junior from Chicago, Illinois, was voted to the second-team.

Sean Barnette of Wingate and Anthony Hilliard of Elizabeth City State shared the honor of co-South Atlantic Region Player of the Year.

In voting done by the Sports Information Directors in the region, Augusta State’s Tyrekus Bowman and Virginia Union’s Brad Byerson were also named to the first-team.

All five first-team selections will be eligible for Daktronics Division II All-American honors.

Joining Fears on the second-team were Wingate’s Bryan Grier, Garret Siler of Augusta State, Reggie Bratton of Lenior-Rhyne, and Fayetteville State’s Phillipe Harris. Of the 10 honorees on both teams, four were from the Peach Belt Conference while the South Atlantic Conference and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Commons and Fears become the fifth and sixth Daktronics All-Region players in the program’s history and the first since Clint Keown in 2002. The two transfers have helped USC Aiken to a school-record 27-3 record and the number one seed in this weekend’s NCAA South Atlantic Regional. The sixth-ranked Pacers won the 2007-08 Peach Belt Conference regular season title.

Also named the co-Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year, Commons led the conference and was second nationally in scoring at 22.1 points per game. He was named PBC Player of the Week a record five times during the season and has scored 20-plus points 21 times this season. The junior is currently just 28 points shy of breaking the school’s single-season record of 691, set by Keown in 2001-02.

Fears was named also named to the Peach Belt All-Conference team in his first season with the Pacers. The junior guard is averaging 17.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. Fears has scored in double figures in 22 of 26 games played, including 10 games with 20 or more points.

USC Aiken will play their first NCAA Tournament game since 1998 on Saturday when the Pacers play eighth-seeded Clayton State at 6:00 PM at Christenberry Fieldhouse in Augusta, Ga. The game will be a rematch of the PBC Tournament championship game last Sunday when the Lakers upset USCA 89-87 in triple overtime.

2008 Daktronic’s Men’s All-South Atlantic Region Team
First-Team
Sean Barnette, Wingate
Anthony Hilliard, Elizabeth City State
Chris Commons, USC Aiken
Tyrekus “AJ” Bowman, Augusta State
Brad Byerson, Virginia Union

Second-Team
Jeremy Fears, USC Aiken
Bryan Grier, Wingate
Garret Siler, Augusta State
Reggie Bratton, Lenoir-Rhyne
Phillipe Harris, Fayetteville State

2008 South Atlantic Co-Players of the Year
Sean Barnette, Wingate
Anthony Hilliard, Elizabeth City State