By Leeroy Francis Jr. |Sports editorCharlotte, N.C.—The magical season of the 16th-ranked Augusta University men's basketball team has come to an end, as the Jaguars had their 15-game win streak snapped on Tuesday, March 19, in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region championship by No. 10 Queens University, 91-78, in the Levine Center.Augusta seniors Aaron Byrd, Tyvez Monroe and Deane Williams competed in their final game for Coach Dip Metress after four seasons together. The Jaguars closed the 2018-19 season with a 28-6 record. Before the loss in the regional final, AU had gone 48 days without defeat. This Jaguar team tallied the third most wins in school history."Queens played great, and we could not stop them in transition," Metress said afterwards. "I am disappointed that we did not play real well."Peach Belt Conference co-player of the year Williams played an outstanding game for the Jaguars in his finale. The PBC defensive player of the year had four blocks in the first four minutes action alone and seven total in the first half to man a strong defensive presence in the paint for the Jaguars. At the half, Williams had 12 points and seven rebounds and blocks. He finished with 25 points, nine blocks and eight rebounds for a near triple-double in the final collegiate game of his career.Senior guards Monroe and Byrd also played hard for the Jaguars in their final collegiate game as well. Monroe played 27 minutes, tallying seven points, five assists, four rebounds and a steal, while Byrd played key defensive stretches against the Royals' dynamic backcourt and the eventual tournament most valuable player Shawn Willett."Obviously, it's tough to lose after we had won 15 straight," Byrd said. "The freshmen and sophomores are going to be great for it—going through such a tough loss."Junior Rafael Monteiro started hot early, scoring seven of the Jaguars' first nine points in the contest and finished with 17. Freshman guard Tyree Myers also tallied 17 points.In their fifth appearance all-time in the region championship game, the Jaguars battled back-and-forth as each team answered three-pointers to open the game. Williams blocked back-to-back shots in the same possession, and Monteiro scored the first five points for Augusta as the Jags lead 9-6 after the first four minutes of play.Queens led 21-20 after 10 minutes of action and a three-pointer at the 5:35 mark lifted the Royals on top by seven. Myers answered with a trey at the top of the key and AU rallied to cut the lead to one point with 3:30 to till the half. Queens took a 39-38 lead into the half.In the second half, the Jaguars quickly gained the lead again when Monroe and Miguel Arnold made three-pointers.With 17:35 left the Jaguars would hold their biggest lead of the second-half up three 48-45 after a Williams jumper. However, just three minutes later, Queens would go on a 10-2 run to regain a lead they would not relinquish.Up 61-54 with 12:07 to play. the Royals got two big stops and drove the floor for a fast-break dunk that gave all momentum to Queens. The Royals went up 11 with the final 10 minutes remaining.Augusta guard Arnold then hit another three-pointer for Augusta with 9:45 left that would stop that Queens' run and get the game within single digits 67-59, but Queens still held the Jaguar offense to six points offensively the next five minutes to hold a 10-point lead with just 4:56 left in the game.The lead changed 11 times in the game, but the last 16:15 was led entirely by Queens, which advanced to the elite eight in Evansville, Ind.Willett had 33 points to lead the Royals to the tough victory at home.The Jags won 29 games in 2010 and 30 in 2009 and 2011. In Metress' tenure at Augusta, his teams have notched nine 20-win seasons. The jags have 15 20-win seasons all-time.Metress, the conference coach of the year, is now 19-9 in the NCAA Tournament with the Jaguars. In their 12th trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Jaguars won back-to-back overtime games to advance to the final. They won in the quarterfinal against PBC opponents Francis Marion and semifinal game against PBC rival USC Aiken .Williams was named to the Southeast Region Team at the start of the D-II Tournament and made his mark leading the Jaguars to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2010-2011. In his senior season, Williams led the Jaguars in points (543), rebounds (314), minutes (1,090) and blocks (80). He averaged 16 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per game.Tyvez Monroe averaged 10 points and five boards and was a key defensive anchor for the Jaguars all season long. Monroe also became the 30th Jaguar all time to reach 1,000 career points and finishes his career ranked eighth in all-time in made three-pointers with 187.Byrd averaged 5.6 points and 2.0 rebounds this season. Byrd was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches 2017-2018 Honor Court and was awarded the Mike & Amy Wood Foundation Graduate Scholarship at the Peach Belt Tournament.Montiero was named to the PBC Second Team All-Conference. Montiero who averaged 15.0 points and 5.9 rebounds will look to lead the Jaguars next season alongside key pieces sophomores Shawn Moss and Troy Cracknell, and the dynamic freshman trio of Myers, Arnold and Darren Lucas-White.Williams and Monteiro were also named to the all-regional team.
Contact Leeroy Francis at lfrancis@augusta.edu.