By Carlos Rodriguez |Sports writerOn Jan. 29, the Augusta University men’s basketball team defeated Peach Belt rival USC-Aiken on the road, 79-74, which would be the start to a winning streak for the Jaguars. On Wednesday, Feb. 26, at Christenberry Fieldhouse, AU obtained their ninth consecutive win after defeating Aiken again, this time by a score of 91-69.AU improved to 20-7 overall and 15-4 in the Peach Belt. The Jags remain in second place and sit only one game behind leader UNC-Pembroke.In the lopsided victory, Augusta had five players score in double figures. Senior Rafael Monteiro led the Jags, notching a double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds, while shooting 17-20 at the free throw line. Sophomore Tyshaun Crawford posted his 14th double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Troy Cracknell added 14 points, and sophomore Miguel Arnold scored 11. Sophomore Darren Lucas-White added 14 off the bench.“It’s good to have balance,” said AU Coach Dip Metress. “We have a great bench. Darren was able to do a great job, and we were able to have balance no doubt.”In the opening minute of the first half, both teams traded buckets and exchanged the lead, but the Pacers were able to get hot offensively and got out to a 19-9 lead after Dhieu Deng hit a three-pointer with 14:48 remaining in the half. Monteiro cut the lead to 21-18 after scoring inside with 11:18 left. Monteiro gave Augusta its first lead after hitting a jumper from free-throw distance, giving the Jags a 30-29 lead with seven minutes left to play before halftime.With 4:48 remaining, Monteiro was fouled by Aiken’s Gus Rowland, who also picked up a technical foul after the play, giving Monteiro four free throws. Monteiro knocked down all four to give AU a 36-31 lead. With a minute to go Cracknell knocked down two free throws to give the Jags their biggest lead of the half at 47-34. Faison Brock hit two free throws in the final minute of the half for the Pacers to cut AU’s lead to 47-36 heading into halftime.Monteiro had 20 points in the first half while knocking down all 12 of his free throw attempts. Crawford had nine first-half points despite limited playing time due to foul trouble."I was being aggressive around the basket from the start, and they had a plan not to let me or Tyshaun score easy ones down low," Monteiro said. "I think that’s why I got to the line so much."The Pacers started off the second half with five straight unanswered points to cut the lead to six but Cracknell and Arnold hit back-to-back threes giving AU a 53-41 lead with 17:43 left to play. Aiken took a hit when Faison Brock, who’s arguably their best player, picked up his fourth personal foul causing him to sit a portion of the second half with 15:35 remaining. After Aiken cut AU’s lead to single digits, Arnold dished a bounce pass to Crawford who knocked down a shot from the perimeter to give the Jaguars a 60-49 lead with 14:14 remaining.“My teammates believe in me,” said Crawford. “I don’t rush none of my shots. Coach Dip calls the plays for me, and I just finish.”Metress praised his 7-footer's play.“He’s been really good and unselfish,” said Metress. “He does a good job of keeping his head. They’re physical with him, and he’s so big and hard to officiate. His confidence level is getting really good.”With under seven minutes left to play AU increased their lead to 20 after Tyree Myers fed the ball to Cracknell, who hit a transition three-pointer, putting the Jags up 79-59. On an inbound play, Lucas-White threw a pass to Crawford, who threw down a vicious slam to increase their lead to 82-59 with five minutes left to play. Cracknell gave the Jags a 26-point lead, their biggest of the game, at 85-59, after a put-back layup with 3:38 left to play. Lucas-White ended the game with a pullup jumper to finish off Augusta’s dominant victory.
“When he (Darren) got in the game, it changed us,” said Metress. “He does such a great job, he was dynamite. He’s my candidate for defensive player of the year.”The Jags outscored the Pacers in both halves by 11 and shot 47.5 percent from the field to Aiken’s 36.5 percent. AU also outrebounded USCA 45-31."We are doing a great job of sharing the ball offensively and playing through our strengths," Monteiro said. "On the defensive end, we are being very solid and making team take contested our difficult shots. For the streak to keep going we need to maintain our focus on defense, rebounding and making teams uncomfortable, because those are extremely important to get playoff wins."Despite the loss, USC-Aiken had all five starters score in double figures. Deng led the team with 17 points. The Pacers fall to 17-12 overall and 13-6 in PBC action. They will host Lander (13-6) on Saturday, Feb. 29. That game will determine who gets the third seed in the PBC Conference tournament.Metress, who has won 73 percent of his games at Augusta, produced his 10th 20-win season at AU, and he now has a career record of 492-228. The Jaguars hold a 53-26 all-time series lead over the Pacers. That includes a 25-11 with Metress at the helm.The Jaguars are currently ranked fifth in the Southeast Regional and received one vote for the NCAA Division II Top 25. (Pembroke is ranked 19th nationally.) The top team in the region is Lincoln Memorial, which has only one loss, followed by Pembroke, Queens and Catawba.AU will host Senior Day and its last regular-season game against Georgia College (13-14,10-9) on Saturday, Feb. 29, at 3:30 p.m. at Christenberry Fieldhouse. The Jags took a loss in Milledgeville last month, which was the last time they lost. They look to avenge the loss and keep the winning streak going. Regardless of the result of the game, AU will host the first round of the PBC tournament on Wednesday, March 4, against a team that will be announced at the end of the week. Right now, that would be Flagler.The AU women’s basketball team also picked up a win Wednesday night, defeating Aiken 56-46. The Jags improved to 11-16 overall and 8-11 in conference play.Sophomore Kiera Howard led the team, scoring 12 points off the bench. Freshman Ashleigh Boulin scored 10 points while senior Camryn Wilson added nine.AU will host Georgia College on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Three seniors will be honored before the men’s game for Senior Day. Wilson and Moneisha Goldsborough from the women’s team and Monteiro for the men’s team.
Contact Carlos Rodriguez at CRODRIGU@augusta.edu.