By Carlos Rodriguez |
Special to the Bell Ringer
The Augusta University men’s basketball team captured a tough win over Georgia Southwestern 74-70 on Saturday, Feb. 23, on Senior Day at Christenberry Fieldhouse and pushed their winning streak to eight.
For a majority of the first half, the Hurricanes led as the Jags struggled to get into high gear. The Jags took the lead at 8-7 with 15:43 remaining off a free throw make from senior Aaron Byrd, but AU's next lead would not come until in the late stages of the game, as the Hurricanes ran off with a 40-30 halftime lead behind accurate outside shooting.
In the second half, the Jags (17-3 in the Peach Belt, 21-5 overall) got going as they battled to narrow the deficit. Freshman Miguel Arnold knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 62-62 with 6:40 remaining in the game.
Junior Rafael Monteiro followed that with two free throws to give the Jags the lead 64-62 with 5:45 remaining. The Jags took their biggest lead of the game 69-64 after Senior Deane Williams posterized a defender with 3:20 remaining. The Hurricanes trimmed the lead to one 71-70 with 2:07 remaining. In the final minutes, freshman Tyree Myers knocked down three key free throws that secured the win for the Jags.
"We've been down 10 before," said Tyvez Monroe, one of three seniors (Williams and Byrd were the others) playing his final regular-season game at Christenberry Fieldhouse. "We know we have the talent to score; we were just talking at halftime about getting stops. But they were hitting shots tonight. They hit a great percentage."
The Hurricanes had shot 60 percent on three-pointers in the first half, but came down to 46 percent in the second half. The Jags picked up their three-point shooting in the final 20 minutes, making 50 percent of their treys after only hitting 29 percent in the first half.
Overall, Williams led the Jags in scoring 16 points, grabbing five rebounds and swatting three shots. Arnold added 14 points, while Monteiro and Myers had 13 points each. Monroe had nine rebounds.
Free throw shooting was a key for Augusta. The Jaguars made 20 of 26 from the line, while the Hurricanes (2-18, 4-22) only took 10 free tosses, making eight. Monteiro was a perfect 7 of 7 for AU, and Myers was 8 of 9.
Georgia Southwestern finished with 52 percent from behind the three-point line, but the Jags were almost as good on all of their field shots, hitting 51 percent. Devin Watson and R.J. Sessions led the Hurricanes with 14 points, followed by Quenten Taylor with 13.
The key play in the game was a steal by Myers with his team down 57-48. He converted the theft into a layup, and the Baltimore, Md., freshman was fouled on the play. He drilled the free throw for 57-51. That ignited a 26-13 AU rally to finish the game.
"I told my assistant right before we started that second half, 'If we hold them to 30 points, we will win this game,'" said AU Coach Dip Metress," and I looked up there and they had 70 at the end. I did not feel that we could outscore them, but we kind of got a little defensive mindset. And then Tyree had a huge, huge steal."
The Jags head on the road Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. to take on USC Aiken, the top team in the Peach Belt. Augusta sits only one game behind the Pacers in second place. This promises to be a major showdown among rivals with the conference's top seed in the post-season league tournament likely at stake. The Pacers won 79-76 on Jan. 30 at Christenberry in a very tight affair. AU swept third-place Francis Marion, and both of Aiken's losses have been to the Patriots.
"We have to learn from our mistakes in the last game," Williams said of the showdown with the Pacers. "We have to play together and play smart."
In Saturday's contest between the AU women and Georgia Southwestern, the Lady Jags came away with a 63-61 win on their Senior Day. Kiera Howard led the way for AU (6-14, 7-19) with 16 points and nine rebounds. Kaela Patrick added 12 points for the winners. Mariya Trimble led the 'Canes (5-15, 8-18) with 12 points.
Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carlosjr521@gmail.com.