By Leeroy Francis |Staff writer
The Augusta University men’s basketball team narrowly lost to Georgia College 61-59 on Saturday, Feb. 10, at Christenberry Fieldhouse.The Jags shot well throughout the contest, going 23 for 50 (46 percent) from the field and shot 53 percent (9 of 17) from the three-point line.Augusta trailed 32-30 going into halftime after a six-minute 18-0 run by the Georgia College Bobcats late in the first half brought them back into the game.The second half was close. Six straight points by freshman Shawn Moss gave the Jags back the lead at 44-43. Jag sophomore Mikkel Kolstad made two clutch free-throws to tie the game at 59.
Georgia College junior Brice Booker then found a way to drive the length of the floor to hit the game-winning layup for the Bobcats with three seconds left on the clock for 61-59.Augusta junior Aaron Byrd led the Jags with 17 points, while senior Tamyrik Fields scored 14 and Kolstad added 11 off the benchEarlier, on Feb. 10, the AU women’s team also fell to Georgia College by an 81-74 score.The AU men’s basketball team then dropped their third straight game after falling to Clayton State 85-72 Monday, Feb. 12. In the men’s contest, the opening half was a solid one for the Jags. Leading for 8:46 of the first half, the Jags played effective team defense to hold Clayton State to only 33 points and 34-percent (11-for-32) shooting from the field in the first half.The Jaguars shot 12 for 29 (41.9 percent) in the first half. In the opening 20 minutes, the leading scorer for Augusta was Shawn Moss who had nine points taking all his shots from three-point range and went 3 for 5. Byrd, the junior from Washington, D.C., had the hot hand early on, and his teammates leaned on him to bring the Jags back in the game. Eventually, he helped give the Jags a 39-36 lead at halftime.The Lakers continued their accurate team shooting in the second half to take the lead from Augusta quickly. They used ball movement to continue to put the pressure on the Jags to keep the game close. The game continued to go back and forth with both teams taking the lead from each other. Accurate shooting from the field and foul line for the Lakers ultimately made the difference, and at the 8:07 mark the Lakers took the lead from the Jags and never gave it back.The Lakers, led by junior Aubrey McRae who scored 21 points and grabbed six rebounds in only 15 minutes of total game time, made a big difference for the Lakers. He continued to be aggressive and created opportunities to get the Jags in foul trouble late in the game, which resulted in two Jags eventually fouling out. McRae ended up going a perfect 13 for 13 free-throw line to help the Lakers stretch the lead on great free-throw shooting as a team (33 for 40) 82.5% percent from the line.With 2:40 left in the game the Jags cut the Laker lead to only five 72-67 on a three-point play by Fields, who only played a total of 15 minutes in this contest, but the Lakers played great defense, and the Jags missed out on opportunities for points under the basket, going two for six in the last two minutes. Meanwhile, the Lakers made plays and continued to stretch their lead with accurate free throw shooting.Senior forward Kyle Doyle, Kolstad and Moss led the team in points with 13 each. Moss and Kolstad accounted 26 of the 29 total bench points. Five total Augusta players scored in double digits in the contest.The Jaguars’ next game is against Francis Marion University on Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Florence S.C.With their third straight loss on Monday, the Jags now sit 10-8 in the Peach Belt Conference, now dropped to fifth place, and 13-11 overall. The Jaguars will look to get back in the winner’s column against a Patriots team that won on Monday against Young Harris 101-84. With the win, Clayton State is now second in the conference with a 15-3 record and a 17-5 overall record.In the women’s game, the Jaguars and the Lakers had a pretty even first 10 minutes of basketball with the Jaguars taking the 18-14 lead. After that, the Lakers played solid team basketball, led by senior forward Abreyln Rackley. Clayton State outscored AU 21-8 and led 35-26 at halftime.Clayton State continued effective defense in the second half, playing a full-court press. This led to 11 Jaguar turnovers.Augusta senior Ashleigh Outler led the way with 16 points and added three rebounds in the contest. Senior Jahmia Bradley had 13 points and three rebounds.The AU women’s next game also is at Francis Marion on Feb. 14. The Jag women are now 4-18 overall and 2-15 in the conference.Contact Leeroy Francis at lfrancis@augusta.edu