By Leeroy Francis |Staff writer
The Augusta University men’s basketball team defeated rival USC-Aiken 80-75 on Wednesday, Feb. 21 to sweep the regular-season series against the Pacers.Earlier, the AU women’s team fell to USC-Aiken by an 85-74 score in overtime.In the men’s contest, the opening half at Christenberry Fieldhouse went well for the Jags. In the first half, they led for 12 of the 20 minutes. The Jaguars started with lights-out shooting from Tamyrik Fields and Kyle Doyle, who combined to go 10-of-13 from the field, scoring 22 of the team’s 46 total first-half points.The Jaguars shot well in the first half, going 17 for 30 (56.7 percent) from the field and were a productive 9 of 12 from the foul line. The Jags also played a two-three zone defense to limit the visiting Pacers to 37 points. USC-A shot 12 for 27 (44.4 percent) from the field. However, the Pacers were just 2 of 11 from behind the three-point line. Led by Field’s 14 points and six rebounds and junior guard Aaron Byrd’s 11 points (both played 19 of the 20 first-half minutes), the Jags held a 46-37 lead at halftime.The Jags shooting percentage slightly decreased in the second half, and AU gave up some early turnovers to its rivals.The Pacers took advantage of the slow second half to come back from the nine-point halftime deficit and get back into the game. With 14:28 left in the game, Pacers guard Kyle Tackeberry sunk a three-point shot to bring the Pacers within two of the Jags, but the home team maintained its composer and held the lead throughout the final half.Once again with the Pacers down four with 4:50 left in the game, Tackeberry sunk another three-point shot to bring the Pacers within a single point of the leaders. But Byrd continued to drive hard to the basket and create opportunities. He made a contested layup and drew the foul to stretch the Jaguar lead to six with 3:16 left in the game.Still, it stayed close down the stretch in a nerve-racking rivalry game. With the Jaguars up by only a single point with 16 seconds left in the game, the Pacers decided to foul freshman guard Shawn Moss, who only played six total minutes in the game. Despite his limited minutes. Moss came up big and put the team on his back for probably the most important free throws of the season. He made two from the line to stretch the Jaguar lead to three 76-73.After two free throws by USC-Aiken’s junior guard Doniel Dean with only eight seconds left the Jags inbounded the ball and passed it back to Moss. He was fouled immediately after and went back to the free-throw line with the game at 76-75 in favor of AU.Moss made two more from the free-throw line to increase the Jaguars’ lead to three. After a late turnover by USC-Aiken, Fields finished the game with a dunk as time expired.With the win, the Jaguars swept the season series against the rival Pacers and clinched a home game at Christenberry Fieldhouse during the quarterfinals of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Feb. 28.The visiting Pacers were led by senior guard Henry Bolton III, who had 16 points and two rebounds. It just was not enough for the Pacers to pull off the victory at Christenberry. The Pacers had a total of four players scoring in double digits for the contest.Fields and Byrd each had excellent games for the Jags. Fields finished with 26 points to lead all scorers. He also added nine rebounds, narrowly missing out on another double-double. The senior from Augusta Aquinas made 10 of 13 from the field and all six of his free throws.Byrd had 19 points and three rebounds. Senior forward Vlad Cobzaru scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while sophomore forward Mikkel Kolstad added 10 points with five rebounds.Like Moss, Cobzaru also made key free throws down the stretch.Asked afterwards about how the Jaguars were able to close this contest out, Fields was concise with his answer.“We needed to limit our turnovers, and it was a total team effort,” he said.When asked about another effective game from the field, Fields was said it was all a part of his game.“I was just balling,” Fields said. “I just go out there and ball, and try not to think too much.”Freshman Moss when asked the importance of effective team defense in getting the victory.“We played great on the defensive end, which helped us stay in the game,” Moss said. “Defensively, we picked each other up, and we kept encouraging each other. We ended up getting stops when we need them.”None was more important than after Moss made his final two free throws of the night. With AU Coach Dip Metress switching from a 2-3 zone to man-to-man, the Jags got the Pacers hung up on the baseline. That resulted in a turnover that led to the full-court pass to Fields to wrap up the game with his dunk.When asked about the four clutch free throws to help the team to victory, Moss knew the stage wasn’t too big for him to handle.“I always tell my teammates in practice that I am ready to do whatever it takes for us to win, so today I just stepped up and knew I was going to knock them down with confidence,” he said.With the win on Wednesday, the Jags now sit 12-9 in the Peach Belt Conference, overtaking the Pacers for fourth place, and stand 15-12 overall going into the season finale on Saturday. With the loss, USC Aiken is now fifth place in the conference with a 11-10 in conference record and 14-11 overall this season.Entering the final weekend of the regular season, UNC-Pembroke and Clayton State are tied for first with 18-3 conference records. Francis Marion is third at 13-8.The Jaguars’ last regular season game is at home against Lander at 3:30 Saturday, Feb. 24.In the women’s game, the Jaguars and the Pacers went back and forth as well trading buckets early in the game. The Jags built a 17-14 lead after the first quarter and increased their lead to seven, leading 37-30 at the half.In the second half, the Jags went cold from the field only scoring 10 total points in the third to the Pacers 21-point total to trail 51-47 going into the fourth quarter.In the fourth, the Jags relied on hot shooting from the three-point line to take back the lead. AU led by five at 72-67 after a layup by senior Ashleigh Outler with 34 seconds left in the game.The Pacers went on a 5-0 run the last 29 seconds to tie the game and take it to overtime. In the extra period, it was all Pacers, who outscored the deflated Jaguars 13-2 to take the victory in Christenberry Fieldhouse.Outler led the way with 21 points and added eight rebounds and seven assists in the contest. Senior forward Jahmia Bradley scored 20 points and had eight rebounds for the Jaguars.The Jag women’s next game also is at home against Lander on Feb. 24 at 1:30 p.m. The AU women are now 4-21 overall and 2-19 in the conference.