Arnold notches 1,000th career point as Jaguars blow out the Mountain Lions

By Carlos Rodriguez | Co-editor in chief 

Once again, a strong defensive outing led to a strong offensive performance. The Augusta University men’s basketball team was firing on all cylinders in their blowout victory Young Harris 112-58 on Saturday, Jan. 8, at Christenberry Fieldhouse. 

From highlight dunks to 3-point shots from all over the floor, to easy layups, the Jags were unstoppable. As a team AU knocked down 17 3-pointers while shooting 60 percent from beyond the arc.  

Augusta had six players score in double figures, led by Miguel Arnold with 24 points off of 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Arnold eclipsed the 1,000-career points mark after only needing 19 points entering the game. 

“It feels great,” said Arnold. “I was honestly not thinking about anything but playing the game, enjoying the time and having fun. Every time I come in the gym I just take that time serious and it’s translated to the game, so I’m going to keep that going.” 

Arnold watched past teammates Deane Williams, Tyvez Monroe and Rafael Montiero enter their names into the record books and waited patiently for his turn to do the same.  

“I was able to see all those things happen, so I was very excited to be apart of that milestone as well,” said Arnold.  

Troy Cracknell added 21 points, making four 3-pointers of his six attempts. Ja’Queze Kirby added 14 points with two highlight dunks while David Viti scored 13 points. Bigs Timmy Sellers and Tyshaun Crawford added 10 points each. 

The Jaguars took control early on and never took their foot off the pedal. They jumped out to a 14-2 lead after 11 points from Arnold, who knocked down three quick 3-pointers and a layup, along with a 3-pointer from Cracknell, forcing the Mountain Lions to call a timeout after only two minutes and 30 seconds of action.  

Cracknell stretched Augusta’s lead to 20 after knocking down his third 3-pointer of the game to give AU a 27-7 lead with 12:44 remaining. AU opened the game 7-7 from 3-point range and made nine of their first 10 3-pointers. 

After a media timeout at the 7:34 mark, the Jaguars came out the huddle ready to execute a highlight reel. After ball movement around the perimeter, guard Tyree Myers threw an alley-oop pass to the rim that was caught by the high-flying Kirby, who flushed down the dunk. Myers, the floor general, finished with eight assists in the game. 

AU’s biggest lead of the half came after a three-pointer by Miguel Arnold to go up 61-24 with 26 seconds left. At the half Augusta led 61-26.  

In the second half the Jaguars picked up right where they left off, continuing to knock down shots. With 14:45 remaining, Arnold hit two free throws that officially gave him his 1,000th career point. 

The biggest lead of the game was 59 points after Troy Cracknell sunk two free throws to go up 99-40 with 6:42 remaining.  

The Mountain Lions fought but AU was too much as they secured the 54-point victory. 

Three takeaways  

1. Augusta is shooting the 3-ball very well 

My new nickname for this team is the 3-point kings of NCAA Division II. Honestly, you could even go as far as saying the 3-point kings of the NCAA. The reason behind that is the Jags are currently not only ranked first in DII in 3-point field goal percentage, but ranked first in the whole NCAA. AU is shooting 45-percent from deep. In Division I the leader is South Dakota State at 44.7-percent and in Division III Williams College is shooting 41.5-percent. Knocking down 17 3-pointers isn’t quite common, but the Jaguars have made even more in a game this season. They knocked down 21 threes against Allen. They’re currently averaging 11.1 3-point makes per game. A big key to AU’s hot hand from deep is the big man, Tyshaun Crawford. When Crawford is fed the ball in the paint most teams have chosen to double him which leaves a man open. Crawford is able to either hit the open man or hit another player on the perimeter who then swings the ball to the shooter.  

“Before the game I told Tyshaun ‘I have no idea how they’re going to guard you,’ so as soon as we threw it in, they swarmed him and he kicked out for two to three 3-pointers,” said AU coach Dip Metress.  

On top of being the No. 1 team in 3-point field goal percentage, Miguel Arnold is No. 1 in DII in individual 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 54.6-percent.  

The clear sharpshooters are Arnold and Cracknell in the starting lineup and Viti off the bench, but several guys can’t be left open because they easily knocked down the shot. Ja’Queze Kirby who is a guy known for his loud dunks knocked down two 3-pointers and is currently shooting 60-percent from deep but only has shot 30 3-pointers so he doesn’t meet the criteria towards the NCAA DII leaders. Guards Tyree Myers and Daniel Allen knocked down a three as well, and you can’t forget about Darren Lucas-White, who will make you pay as well.  

2. Everybody eats, everybody scores 

Every single player who got in scored. What’s impressive is two of the six double figure scorers came off the bench. David Viti and Timmy Sellers. Viti contributed to the dominant 3-point performance, knocking down three 3-pointers. Viti is known for his shooting abilities but every now and then he showcases his athleticism like he did in the first half when he threw down an alley-oop dunk on a pass by Daniel Allen. Sellers nearly recorded a double-double, grabbing nine rebounds to go with his 10 points. He fought on the glass getting several put-back tip-ins on the offensive end and holding his own on the defensive end as well.  

“Timmy was really good,” said Metress. “It's so hard for Timmy and Tyshaun to guard teams that play like this but Timmy did a good job and a great job at rebounding. When we took Tyshaun out the production didn’t drop when Timmy got in there.”  

Darren Lucas-White scored eight points knocking down jumpers and layups. Lucas-White is the glue of this secondary group. He’s been able to lead and do a little bit of everything that the team needs. He grabbed four rebounds and dished three assists as well. Daniel Allen showed great potential with his play. He scored five points, knocking down a step-back three and made a finger roll late in the second half. 

3. Defense leads to offense 

Yes, 112 points is amazing, but what leads to that is the performance on the defensive end. The Jags scored 25 points off turnovers and 16 fastbreak points due to defensive efforts. AU held Young Harris to only six field goal makes in the first half. The Mountain Lions only shot 32-percent from the field the entire game. This is the second game in a row that the Jags held their opponent to only 16 made field goals. The last two games the Jags have had to face 3-point shooting teams in Young Harris and Georgia College and they held both teams to only seven and six 3-point makes, respectively. AU also leads the country in scoring margin at 25.4 ppg displaying dominant performances against their opponents.  

“In practice all we focus on is defense,” said Arnold. “Offensively we can get whatever we want. Defense is taking us to offense.” 

What’s Next? 

The Jaguars will head on the road on Wednesday, Jan. 12, to play against Lander (6-6, 1-2) at 7:30 p.m.  

“We have to lock in to what they do offensively because it’s a little different than a lot of people we’ve played,” said Metress.  

AU will be back home at Christenberry Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan. 15, at 3:30 p.m. for another matchup with Columbus State who gave the Jags their lone loss of the season.  

Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carrodriguez@augusta.edu.

Tyshaun Crawford (0) slams home two points for AU, as Young Harris’ Caleb Towns (11) watches. At the top of the page, Miguel Arnold (5) drives to the hoop off a Crawford ball screen on an afternoon when Arnold had 24 points. (photos by Carlos Rodriguez)