By Carlos Rodriguez |Sports writerThe Augusta University men’s and women’s basketball teams both picked up conference wins over Francis Marion on Wednesday night, Jan. 15, at Christenberry Fieldhouse. The women’s team edged FMU in overtime 74-69, while the men’s team won 94-81.In the men’s game, sophomore center Tyshaun Crawford quickly scored inside the paint in the opening 15 seconds of the first half, followed by a jumper from junior Troy Cracknell, giving the Jags a quick 4-0 lead after only 24 seconds of play. FMU senior Jaquez Smith quickly answered back with a two-point basket of his own to give the Patriots their first points of the game. AU scored nine unanswered points to give the Jags a 13-2 lead after Crawford connected inside with 15:48 remaining.After coming off a career-high 29 points last game, Cracknell carried over that same energy taking advantage of FMU’s zone defense, scoring 14 straight points for the Jags. These consisted of four three-pointers and a two-point jumper. Cracknell capped off his 14-point run with a three to give AU a 27-9 lead with 11:32 remaining.“I was just feeling it, the guys got me the ball and it was going in,” said Cracknell afterwards. “It kind of really amped me up. I kept shooting and it kept falling, thanks to my teammates for giving me the ball.”The Jaguars' biggest lead of the game came when sophomore Robert Barlund converted on two free throws to push the lead to 32-9 with 9:50 remaining. FMU went on a 9-0 run after a trio of threes from Smith and freshman Ja’Lil Robinson to cut Augusta’s lead to 32-18.Smith, a North Augusta native, was consistently making big plays for the Patriots, knocking down tough shot after tough shot, helping the Patriots stay within reach of the Jags. With 13 seconds remaining in the half, Smith hit a three that cut Augusta’s lead to 46-41 at the half. He led all scorers with 23 points in the first half. Cracknell led AU with 19 first half points knocking down five three pointers.“He was unbelievable,” said FMU Coach Gary Edwards. “He was on fire. I was really glad to see it for him; he couldn’t miss.”In the second half, the Patriots continued to erase the deficit trimming Augusta’s lead to 46-44 in the opening minute after Robinson converted on a jumper. With 14:15 remaining Robinson knocked down a three that tied things up at 54. Sophomore Miguel Arnold answered back two possessions later with a three. Once again FMU answered with another three-pointer, this time from freshman Jamal Edmondson, knotting things up at 57 with 13:28 remaining.The Patriots made a total of 15 three-pointers in 30 attempts throughout the game.With 11:03 remaining, junior Keith Matthews knocked down a jumper to give the Patriots their first and only lead of the game, 62-60.
Sophomore guard Darren Lucas-White regained the lead for the Jags after a jump shot gave them a 64-62 lead with 10 minutes remaining. White had a great game offensively but most importantly on the defensive end as he held FMU’s Smith to only three second-half points after his dominant first half.“I just contained him, because in the first half he went off,” Lucas-White said. “I just kept my hand up and kept sliding my feet. My teammates helped me on the help side as well.”Cracknell made a key three-pointer that pushed the lead to 74-66 off a beautiful feed by senior post player Rafael Monteiro with 7:49 left in the contest.The Jaguars increased their lead to 11, 83-72, after two free throw makes from Monteiro with 4:30 remaining. AU held on and capped the game off with a three-point basket from Lucas-White in the final minute to give them a 94-81 win.“Augusta is a great team, and we knew we’d have a hard time on the boards,” said Edwards. “I was really proud on how the guys played. We gave them a game tonight.”AU outrebounded FMU 34-21.Cracknell finished with 23 points with six three-point makes. Monteiro added 19 points in which 14 of those came in the second half, while also grabbing nine rebounds. Crawford scored 17 and grabbed eight boards and off the bench Lucas-White contributed 16 points. Robinson added 19 for Francis Marion, and Edmondson had 15.The only negative for Augusta was 15 turnovers, compared to only 11 for the Patriots.“Very disappointed with how many turnovers we had throwing the ball in the post,” said AU head coach Dip Metress. “I was not happy about those, but it’s a win and we have a huge week coming up, four games in seven days. We cannot turn it over on Saturday.”The men are currently averaging 85.7 points per game which is currently the 30th best in NCAA Division II. With the win, the Jaguars improved to 10-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play. The Jags currently sit in second place in the conference behind arch-rival USC-Aiken, which is 7-0. Francis Marion fell to 3-10 overall and 2-4 in the conference.In the first quarter of the women’s game, FMU scored on back-to-back possessions giving them a 4-0 lead with 8:40 remaining. Jaguard freshman standout Kennedi Manning got on board first for the Jags after grabbing her own miss and putting it back up for two points with 7:30 left to play.The Patriots stretched their lead to as big as eight in the quarter. Jags were trailing by three until sophomore Asia Harrison knotted things up at 14 after drilling a three-pointer with under four minutes left in the quarter. Harrison caught fire, drilling two more threes and a two-point jump shot in a span of less than three minutes, giving the Jags a 22-16 lead one minute remaining. Harrison finished with 14 first quarter points. FMU freshman Kristian Wall trimmed Augusta’s lead to 22-21 after making a shot at the buzzer.Both teams battled back and forth in the second quarter exchanging the lead. After AU trailed by two, sophomore Kiera Howard found senior Cameryn Wilson who connected on a three-pointer to give them a 27-26 lead with 6:32 remaining. Wilson extended their lead to 32-28 with 4:21 left after knocking down another three. Harrison gave Augusta their biggest lead of the half at 36-28 after converting on a free throw with under a minute remaining. The score would stay the same heading into halftime.In the third quarter, FMU freshman Scarlett Gilmore drilled two unanswered three-pointers to trim Augusta’s lead to 36-34 with 8:10 remaining. Wilson and Manning answered with their own buckets, giving AU a 40-34 lead with 6:37 left to play. AU junior Zariya West stretched the Jags' lead to 46-38 after hitting a shot with 1:06 remaining in the quarter. The Patriots fought back to trim the lead to four before Wilson knocked down a jumper in the final seconds, giving AU a 48-42 lead.In the fourth, Wilson picked up right where she left off converting for two points in the opening possession for the Jags. The very next possession Manning knocked down a shot giving AU its biggest lead of the game at 52-42 with 8:52 remaining.Despite trailing by 10, the Patriots fought back to trim Augusta’s lead to two after junior Kiana Adderton knocked down a shot as they trailed 60-58 with 2:10 remaining. Gilmore saved the day for the Patriots after hitting a shot with 15 seconds remaining that tied things up at 62 to send the game into overtime.In the overtime period, both teams were scoreless for over almost two minutes until AU’s Howard broke the silence, making a jumper with 3:17 remaining. That gave AU a 64-62 lead. Augusta held FMU scoreless for almost four minutes until Adderton hit a shot with 1:17 remaining cutting Augusta’s lead to 68-64. Howard knocked down five free throws in the final minute of the overtime period helping AU secure the five-point win.Manning finished with 16 points and six rebounds while Wilson also scored 16 and recorded four steals. Howard added 13 points in which nine were in the overtime period. Harrison added 15 points coming off the bench.AU improves to 7-7 overall and 3-2 in conference play, while FMU falls to 5-7 overall and 1-5 in the conference.The Jaguars will head on the road Saturday, Jan. 18, for conference games against UNC Pembroke. The women start at 1:30 p.m. and the men follow at 3:30.
Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carlosjr521@gmail.com.