By Carlos Rodriguez |Sports writerThe Augusta University men’s basketball team defeated Georgia Southwestern State University 77-68 in their Peach Belt Conference season opener Thursday night, Dec. 19, at Christenberry Fieldhouse. Earlier, the AU women edged GSW by a 60-56 score.Troy Cracknell started the scoring with a layup off the opening tip to give Augusta its first lead of the game with 19:55 remaining in the half. The Hurricanes took the lead a few possessions later after a jumper by Abdul Dial, giving them a 4-2 lead with 17:51 remaining. Cracknell, who scored a career-high 24 points, quickly regained the lead for the Jaguars after converting a four-point play. On that play, the junior from Huntersville, N.C., was fouled as he drained a three-pointer and then made the free throw, giving AU a 6-4 lead with 17:23 remaining.The game went back and forth, and that led to 10 lead changes in the first half. Georgia Southwestern’s biggest and last lead of the game came on a basket from sophomore Devon Higgs, who gave the Hurricanes a 21-17 lead with under nine minutes remaining in the half.Sophomore guard Tyree Myers capped off a 7-0 run for Augusta after converting a three-pointer to take the lead at 24-21 with 5:20 remaining. Senior Rafael Monteiro gave the Jaguars their biggest lead of the game after a making a layup on a flashy no-look bounce pass from sophomore Darren Lucas-White to put Augusta up 39-27 with under a minute left until the half. The Jags were led by Cracknell and Monteiro with 13 and 12 first-half points, respectively, as Augusta led 39-32 at intermission.“My shot felt pretty well today,” Cracknell said. “It was much better than it was before. I was missing before early in the season, but now it’s been falling.”After giving up five points to end the first half, the Jags scored five points to open up the second half to lead 44-32 with 18:30 remaining. The Hurricanes managed to score eight unanswered points and trimmed Augusta’s lead to 48-47 after a put-back from Soloman Thomas with 14 minutes remaining. Monteiro converted on a layup that increased the Jags lead to 55-52 with 11:04 remaining.The next possession for Augusta led to a number of ejections and technical fouls. Cracknell called a timeout after diving for a loose ball with Georgia Southwestern’s Devon Higgs. The loose ball situation caused the game to turn South in a matter of seconds.As Cracknell was on the ground, Higgs was hovering right on top, and the referees said Cracknell kicked Higgs. This caused caused shoving, and both benches cleared. Security officers, referees, coaches, players and even fans we’re involved trying to separate the two teams.“I dove for the ball, called timeout and apparently my foot was on the guy's head,” Cracknell said. “He started pushing, and I saw everybody come off the bench.”This led to a delay of game that lasted for more than 10 minutes as the referees gathered and reviewed what went on and who would face consequences. After review, the referees ejected three of Augusta’s starters Myers, Tyshaun Crawford and Miguel Arnold along with Shawn Moss. For Georgia Southwestern, three players, all whom were starters, were ejected. The three were Jamari Dean, who was the leading scorer for the Hurricanes with 18 points, Kahlon Whitney and Abdul Dial.“I don’t know if guys have to sit the next game; I’ve never been involved in something like this in 24 years as a head coach,” AU Coach Dip Metress said in his office after the game.Metress later said he did not expect Myers, Crawford, Arnold and Moss to have sit in Saturday's home game with Flagler since Thursday's melee was not considered a fight.Aside from the ejections, players from both teams were hit with technical fouls. For the Jags, it was Cracknell and Lucas-White, and for the Hurricanes Higgs and Soloman Thomas, who had received a technical earlier in the game, so receiving this technical caused him to be ejected as well. The ejections led to the Hurricanes only having six players left.Thirty seconds after play resumed, the Hurricanes lost yet another player, Higgs, after he picked up his fifth personal foul. He had to sit out the remainder of the game, leaving the Hurricanes with no substitutes.Despite losing three starters, the Jags still had their leading scorers of the night, Monteiro and Cracknell, who continued to produce. After a Cracknell three-pointer and a Monteiro layup, Augusta had a commanding 63-52 lead with under eight minutes left to play. The Jags played a very different lineup in the final minutes with the ejections and players in foul trouble.“Guys that are usually aren’t in position to close the game closed the game, and they got experience doing that,” Metress said. “It was lineups we thought we’d never practice with.”Despite only having five players, the Hurricanes still fought hard and trimmed Augusta’s lead to four after Keshawn Gibbs made a layup for 61-65 with 4:25 remaining. Gibbs would finish with 12 points.The Jaguars made key free throws in the final minutes to seal the game. Cracknell led Augusta with 24 points, going 4 of 7 from the three-point line and 10 of 14 at the free throw line. Monteiro scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, giving him a double-double, his second of the season.“We played together, stayed together, we didn’t divide from ourselves and we just won the game,” Cracknell said. “To beat Flagler (Saturday) we got to play defense. We let to many drives go by.”The Jags shot 26-41 at the free throw line with the majority of the misses coming in the second half.“We got to make free throws," Metress said. "When you have a game like this, a melee and all crazy stuff going on, the best thing to do is make two free throws. We didn’t really do that and could’ve separated the game during that stretch.”Augusta shot 50 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Hurricanes 38-30.Augusta improves to 6-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. The Jags host the Flagler Saints for their second Peach Belt Conference game at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21, at Christenberry Fieldhouse.In the women’s game, the Jags picked up the win over Georgia Southwestern in a close game to improve to 1-0 in conference play and 4-5 overall. Freshman Kennedi Manning led the Jags, notching her second career double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Sophomore Kiera Howard added 14 points off the bench while freshman Crystal Corley scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds off the bench. Lex Chatman led GSW with 16 points and 10 rebounds."We had three solid days of preparation leading up to our game against Georgia Southwestern," AU Coach Millette Green said. "We agreed that we need to be consistent in our daily preparation and performance. Overall, I was pleased with our team effort, but we have to do a better job at finishing games. I called a timeout in the fourth quarter and reminded them of how we lost a 10-point lead against Queens and ended up losing the game."Green said rebounding was key in the game."In the first half, we gave up too many offensive rebounds," she said. "Kennedi Manning had more rebounds than the rest of the team. At half time, I challenged the other players to meet their rebounding goals. Crystal Corley had four consecutive rebounds in the third quarter, which was huge. "The Jaguars shot better than 40 percent for the second straight game. AU built a 28-17 halftime lead and held on from there. GSW's record dropped to 0-1 and 4-3.AU women host Flagler at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21."Against Flagler, it is important for us to guard their personnel based on our defensive principles and limit their second chance points," Green said. "I am sure they will watch the film against Georgia Southwestern and feel they can get second-chance opportunities. We must win the rebound war."
Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carlosjr521@gmail.com.