By Carlos Rodriguez |Sports writerBack on Jan. 8, Augusta suffered an 88-82 loss at Lander. Fast forward to almost a month later, and the Jaguars got revenge against the Bearcats by defeating them 77-71 on Wednesday night, Feb. 5, at Christenberry Fieldhouse.With the win, Augusta improved to 9-4 in Peach Belt Conference play and 15-7 overall. The Jaguars are one game out of second place and two out of first in the conference standings. Lander, tied for second with USC Aiken, falls to 10-3 in the conference and 16-5 overall. UNC Pembroke is in first at 11-2 in league play.In the first half Wednesday night, sophomore guard Tyree Myers put the Jaguars on board first, hitting a three-pointer in the opening 30 seconds. Lander’s Elijah Austin quickly answered back with a three of his own with 19:03 remaining. Both teams battled back and forth leading to five ties in the half. The Jags managed to take a 16-12 lead after Myers knocked down a free throw with 13:55 remaining. With 12:46 remaining Zane Rankin hit a three-pointer for the Bearcats to cut Augusta’s lead to 19-18.Sophomore Tyshaun Crawford stretched AU’s lead to seven after grabbing an offensive rebound and throwing down a dunk to put the Jaguars ahead 27-20 with 9:09 remaining. Three minutes later Crawford found junior Troy Cracknell wide open in the paint for two-points that gave Augusta a ten-point lead, their biggest of the game, at a score of 33-23. The Bearcats trimmed AU’s lead to single digits late in the half but once again Crawford found an open Cracknell, this time at the three-point line, who knocked down the shot to give the Jags a 41-31 lead with 2:15 remaining.“Tyshaun was a force on both ends, no doubt,” said AU Coach Dip Metress.After being down by 10, the Bearcats managed to go on a 7-0 run to end the half which was capped off by a layup from Sidney Robinson with 30 seconds remaining. The Jags led at the break 41-38. Crawford led the first-half scoring with 12 points.In the second half, senior Rafael Monteiro tricked his defender with a pump-fake and made a reverse layup to get things started, increasing the lead to 43-38 with 18:56 remaining. After only playing eight minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Monteiro played a smart second half, drawing two charges in the opening four minutes.“Rafael got in trouble in the first half,” Metress said, “but he was clutch down the stretch.”The game had gone without a tie score since early in the first half until Lander’s Tyler Brevard hit two free throws to knot things at 54 with 11:02 remaining. Sophomore Darren Lucas-White regained the lead for the Jags after knocking down a pullup from inside to put AU up 56-54 with 10:17 remaining. With 3:44 remaining, DaJuan Moorer hit a shot from inside the free throw line to trim Augusta’s lead to 67-66.With under three minutes remaining sophomore Miguel Arnold stripped the ball from Brevard and dove for the loose ball. After maintaining the ball Myers found Arnold open in the corner for a three-pointer to put Augusta up 71-66 with 2:37 remaining. With 1:06 remaining LaRaymond Spivery cut AU’s lead to 73-71 after making a floater. Monteiro and Myers were both fouled and sent to the free throw line in the final minute. Both went on to hit two free throws each securing the six-point win for the Jags.Monteiro led Augusta in scoring with 21 points. Tyshaun Crawford posted a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Tyree Myers had 11 points, six assists, and three steals while Miguel Arnold also added 11 points.The key difference between the game the Jaguars lost at Lander and Wednesday night’s victory came on the boards.“We kept them off the glass and limited direct drives to the rim,” Metress said.AU also had a big advantage at the foul line, making 15-of-23 charity tosses, compared to only 6 of 8 for Lander, and AU had fewer turnovers than the Bearcats (11 to 16).The Jags will head on the road for the next two conference games. Saturday, Feb. 8, they’ll head to St. Augustine, Fla., to take on Flagler at 3:30 p.m., then on Wednesday, Feb. 12, will head to Florence, S.C., to play Francis Marion at 7:30 p.m.The Jags return to action at Christenberry Fieldhouse on Wed., Feb. 15, to host UNC Pembroke at 7:30 p.m.In the women's game, first-place Lander got 23 points from Jessica Harris to beat AU 85-61. Zairya West led the Jags with 18 points.
Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carlosjr521@gmail.com.