By Leeroy Francis Jr. |Sports editorThe Augusta University basketball teams started Peach Belt Conference play against Georgia College on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 1, with the men winning a 74-69 overtime thriller and the women falling 66-56 in Christenberry Fieldhouse.In the men's game, the Jaguars surged out to an early lead hitting eight of their first thirteen shots starting the game on a 7-0 advantage and extended their first-half lead to as much as 17 in the first half thanks to great team defense and efficient foul shooting in a 19-4 key first-half run for the Jaguars. The Jaguars looked to be in control of the game early but the Bobcats brought the game back in the final minutes of the second half taking advantage of 13 turnovers throughout the first half and five turnovers late in the first half to cut into the early Jaguar lead and only trailed by six at halftime 36-30.Georgia College continued to shift the momentum in their favor starting the second half and took their first lead of the game with a dunk by Issan Thomas at the 16:33 mark in the second half to make it 39-38. Augusta took control right back with a Miguel Arnold three-pointer as the Jags stopped the Bobcat run and started rolling offensively again to bring the Jaguar lead to 11 with 9:21 left in the game. They battled back and forth late and the Bobcats re-tied the contest at 58-all with just over five minutes to go.With one minute to play in regulation, Georgia College held a 62-60 lead over Augusta. Senior Deane Williams grabbed a rebound off a Bobcat missed a jumper in the paint that gave the Jaguars time to call a timeout with seven seconds to go and gave AU Coach Dip Metress time to draw up a play."We called in a play called 'Augusta' most of the night, but we weren't getting anything from it, so we called it 'Jags.' We haven't run it all year," Metress said. "It was an isolation play we ran when O'Neal (Armstrong) was here, and Deane made a hell of a play. The best thing was he struggled all night, and he was able to step it up when it mattered the most."Freshman guard Tyree Myers inbounded the ball to Williams, who drove the lane and delivered a two-hand slam to tie the game at 62-62 with 04.2 seconds left and force overtime. GC missed a long desperation shot before the horn."Coach Metress drew up a great play," said Bobcat Coach Mark Gainous. "We came out on Dean like he might be a three-point threat, but he took it to the basket and made that dunk."In overtime, each team matched three field goals, before Georgia College hit a lone free throw to lead 69-68 with 1:07 to go. Cracknell drew a foul on a three-point attempt and buried all three free throws to lift Augusta on top 71-69. Tyree Myers held the ball to run out some clock for Augusta and with the shot clock down to five drilled a jumper to extend the lead to four 73-69 and gave the Jaguars the cushion they needed to hold on for the five-point victory.Junior Rafael Monteiro had 19 points on 7 of 12 from the field and 2 of 3 from the three to lead the team. Monteiro also had eight boards.Cracknell, a sophomore from Huntersville, N.C., scored 16 off the bench, and Williams added 14 points, eight rebounds and at least three blocks. Freshmen Darren Lucas-White and Miguel Arnold got their first starts of the season and added a combined 25 points and 8 rebounds.The Jaguars won the rebounding battle 45-40, but the Bobcats shot the ball slightly better (42 percent to 39 percent). One big different was AU making 17 of 22 from the line, compared to only 7 of 14 for the Bobcats. Jordan Thomas led GC with 24 points, and Isaac Thomas added 16 points and eight boards.Augusta hosts the fifth annual Education Day Game on Thursday, Dec. 6 with more than 2,500 fifth-graders from Richmond County for an 11 a.m. tipoff in Christenberry Fieldhouse. The Jags host the Emmanuel College Lions.
In the women's game, the Jaguars could not hold their first-half lead. After an early lead in the first quarter, the Jaguars could not maintain their momentum in the second quarter, allowing the Bobcats to take their first lead in the game with 4:18 left before the half. The Bobcats finished the first half on a 17-3 run to take the lead going into halftime 32-24.In the second half, the Bobcats maintained their lead throughout the second half nut the Jaguars continued to keep the game within reach. Being down as little as two with 4:59 left in the third quarter. The Bobcats continued to roll offensively building their lead to as much as 12 with 4:23 left in the fourth quarter. The Jaguars cut the Bobcat lead down to 10 with three minutes left in the fourth and trailed by six after a Cameryn Wilson layup. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to complete the comeback for the Jaguars and Georgia College separated from Jaguars late at the free-throw line.Freshman Asia Harrison scored 22 points going five-for-seven from three and 6-11 from the field to lead the Jaguars. Freshman Kiera Howard and senior Brianna Middleton also scored in double figures for the Jaguars with each adding 12 points. Middleton also added nine rebounds and three steals.Augusta plays at Queens University of Charlotte on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 6:00 p.m. in Charlotte, N.C.