AU basketball teams sweep Paine College in annual city rival matchup
By Carlos Rodriguez | Co-editor in chief
After a one-year hiatus from the Augusta-Paine annual matchup due to COVID-19, the Jaguars and Lions battled it out once again in front of the city of Augusta on Monday, Dec. 13, at Christenberry Fieldhouse.
AU came out victorious in both games with the No. 8 ranked men staying undefeated, improving to 9-0 with an 84-63 victory, and the Augusta women improving to 7-2 with a 73-34 win.
“It was good to play against the hometown rival,” said AU men’s coach Dip Metress. “I give Paine credit, they played really hard. They played harder than any team we’ve played all year in the arena.”
In the women’s game November Morton led the Jaguars with 13 points, followed by Kennedi Manning with 12 and Tomiyah Alford and Ashleigh Boulin with 10 points each.
In the first quarter Manning got off to a hot start scoring the first 10 points for her team, helping Augusta get out to a 10-4 lead with 5:38 remaining.
“We had the size advantage, so one thing we wanted to do was go in the paint,” said AU women’s coach Millette Green. “I think she guided us off to a good start finishing inside early on.”
Despite the quick outburst by Kennedy, the Jags struggled to get things going offensively as the Lions fought back to cut the lead to 14-12 before the quarter ended.
In the second quarter AU flipped the switch, outscoring the Lions 30-6. Morton opened up the quarter scoring five quick points, knocking down a 3-pointer then making a fading jumper after a Kiera Howard steal, causing the Lions to call a timeout.
Green praised Morton’s growth since her arrival into the program last season after transferring from Florida Tech.
“November has elevated her game since last year,” said Green. “Last year she was learning our system and she’s really taken pride in her defense and guarded anybody she has to guard and offensively everybody believes when she shoots its going in. We might be more confident than her in her shot.”
The Jags scored 16 unanswered points to open the quarter which was both started and finished by Morton. A 3-pointer by Morton gave AU an 18-point lead at 30-12 with 3:42 remaining.
AU held Paine scoreless for the first six minutes of the quarter. A big reason for that was the full-court press defense the Jaguars set up that caused several turnovers by the Lions. In the first half Howard had six steals for Augusta.
“We did a better job of getting into our press, not letting them inbound the ball quickly and just rubbed in and forcing those turnovers,” said Green. “We got to make shots to be able to get into the press and in the first quarter we didn’t make shots.”
At the half Augusta led 44-18.
The Jags and Lions played each other evenly in the third quarter, both scoring 10 points each but AU won the fourth quarter battle as they held Paine to six points again while scoring 19 as they secured the victory.
In the men’s game Troy Cracknell led AU in scoring with 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double. Tyshaun Crawford scored 21 points off 8-of-11 shooting and brought down eight boards.
“The first half was a hard struggle from the outside. It was frustrating but I knew I had to keep my composure and confidence up,” said Cracknell. “I also needed to get myself going in other ways than just shooting. I picked up my effort defensively and was attacking the rim.”
Cracknell shot 6 of 19 but despite numerous misses, Metress agreed the shots he took were solid looks that just weren’t falling and was pleased to see him turn things around in the latter half of the game.
“We never have anybody take 19 shots, but I would say of the 19 shots he took probably 17 were good shots,” said Metress. “I was proud of the fact Troy bounced back in the second half. He did other things besides worry about his shot.”
The game started off similar to the women’s game with the post player scoring early on. Crawford dunked the ball on the first three possessions of the game to give AU a quick 6-3 lead.
AU jumped out to a 31-19 lead after John Whitehead III converted on a jump hook with 9:40 remaining. The Lions fought back with a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 31-29 after Adrian Bloodworth knocked down a 3-pointer with 6:45 left to play.
Despite the momentum of the Lions, the Jaguars never surrendered the lead. Crawford sent AU into the locker room with a 43-34 lead after sinking a mid-range jumper from the wing seconds before time expired.
The first half was full of energy—which made this city rivalry a fun one for the fans and players to enjoy.
Cracknell has been here for the past five years and spoke about what the rivalry over the last couple of years.
“Paine is right down the street, so we always have a great audience whether its home or away,” said Cracknell. “We know we’re going to face them every year and each time we play they’re going to give us their best game every time. I’m just glad we were able to seal the game and keep our winning streak against our hometown rival.”
In the second half after an early timeout by Paine, AU executed a play they’ve worked on but yet to run in a game as Tyree Myers threw an alley-oop pass to a cutting David Viti who was wide open to throw it down for a dunk. The highlight play gave the Jags a 52-36 lead with 16:20 left.
“I saw it was going to be open,” said Metress. “Tyshaun did a good job of being patient, Miguel (Arnold) did a good job of screening and Tyree threw a perfect pass. Viti said that was the first lob he ever caught in his life.”
Paine would go onto cut the lead at times, but Augusta stretched it to 20 points after Myers made a jumper to go up 66-46 with 6:50 remaining.
The biggest lead of the game came in the final minute off of free throw makes from Daniel Allen to go up 84-61 but Paine scored one more basket.
Both teams will head to Columbus State on Monday, Dec. 20, for the first Peach Belt Conference matchup of the season. The women play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men’s game at 7:30 p.m.
The men have a history of close matchups up in Columbus, so Metress knows the team will be tested.
“They’re going to lay multiple defenses and they physically matchup with us in the four and five spots,” said Metress. “It’ll be a good game. Our guys are looking forward to that one, no question.”
Contact Carlos Rodriguez at CARRODRIGUEZ@augusta.edu.
Kennedi Manning (24) had 12 points and 5 rebounds to help Augusta to victory over Paine. At the top of the page, Troy Cracknell drives to a basket against Paine’s Cristiano Gomes (30) and Jasper Clements (2) on a night when Cracknell had 22 points for the eighth-ranked Jaguars. (photos by Carlos Rodriguez)
