AU men’s basketball wins home-opener in dominant fashion over Benedict College

By Carlos Rodriguez | Co-editor in chief  

The No. 17 ranked Augusta University men’s basketball team trampled over Benedict College 87-57 in their home-opener Tuesday night, Nov. 23, at Christenberry Fieldhouse. 

With the win the Jags (the national ranking coming in the NABC poll) improved to 4-0 on the young season.

This was AU head coach Dip Metress’ first game back on the sidelines after serving his three-game suspension for NCAA violations.  

"It was great to be back on the sidelines,” said Metress. “It’s been 629 days since we had fans in the arena. It’s great to be back.” 

Assistant coaches Zachary Tinkham and Lenny Carlson led the Jags to a 3-0 start during Metress’ suspension. 

“It’s good to have a little adversity during the year,” said Metress. “By winning those games it put us 17th in the country.” 

Like Metress mentioned, it was the first time fans were in attendance for a men’s game at Christenberry since March. 4, 2020.  Last season, the Jags played every home game without spectators.  

“I can at least hear someone cheering for us,” junior Darren Lucas-White said jokingly. “Last year we just heard shoes squeaking the whole time, but it was actually great seeing familiar faces.”  

Junior Miguel Arnold led AU for the third time this season, pouring in 21 points off five three-pointers. Arnold was also aggressive defensively, grabbing six rebounds.  

Tyshaun Crawford was a menace in the paint on both sides of the ball, scoring 15 points off 7-8 shooting from the field and grabbing 10 rebounds. The 7-foot center achieved his third double-double of the season and swatted three shots.  

“He blocked a bunch of shots which caused them to be really hesitant to go to the basket,” said Metress.  

AU also received double digit efforts from Troy Cracknell (12 points) and Lucas-White (10 points). Lucas-White played aggressively on the defensive end and had numerous hustle plays that won’t show up in the box score.  

“Darren is unbelievable man,” said Metress. “I don’t know what position he plays he just runs around and make plays. He’s the easiest guy to coach.” 

This season Lucas-White returns to his role from the 2019-20 season, being the sixth man and leader for that second group of players.  

“Coming in off the bench, I have a lot of energy,” said Lucas-White. “I pick up what the starters not picking up so lack of defense or lack of scoring I do either or.” 

This was AU’s game from the moment they took the lead. The Tigers had no answer for the Jaguars early on as they jumped out to a 12-0 lead within the first five minutes.   

Cracknell scored the first bucket for the Jaguars after knocking down on a three-pointer. The 12-0 run capped off on a putback dunk by Crawford.  

After a slow start, Benedict was able to get things going and cut the lead to single digits, getting it down to as little five points after a three from Zach Butler trimmed AU’s lead to 22-17 with 6:23 remaining.  

Lucas-White spoke about the Jaguars lack of defense late in the first half. 

“We weren’t rotating the right way’ that’s what it comes down to,” said Lucas-White. “The offensive end is always going to be there but the defensive end wins games.” 

Crawford push the Jags’ lead back to 10, after bullying his way through defenders in the paint for a hook shot to give AU a 30-20 lead with 3:19 left to play.  

Lucas-White scored the final bucket of the half with a layup to push Augusta’s lead to 37-20 heading into halftime.  

Augusta held Benedict to only convert on 26.7-percent of their shots from the field in the half. The Jaguars shot 51.7-percent from the field.  

In the second half the Jags quickly stretched their lead out to 25, opening the half with Ja’Queze Kirby flushing down a dunk from a feed from Crawford, followed by three-point baskets from Tyree Myers and Arnold, all within a span of a minute to go up 45-20.  

The Jaguars lead continued to grow as the Tigers had no answer inside the paint or the shooting performance AU displayed from the perimeter. The biggest lead of the game was a 41-point lead, which came during the 6:39 mark after John Whitehead III knocked down a corner three to go up 79-38.  

With a blowout game, it allowed Metress to allocate minutes across the entire bench as each player got quality minutes.  

Benedict would go onto cut the deficit out of the 40s range but still lose by 30, as the Jaguars capped off a strong performance to stay undefeated.  

Prior to this game, the Jaguars defeated Fayetteville State on the road 74-65, on Saturday, Nov. 20. In the win AU had five players in double figures led by Arnold with 15 points.  

Crawford added 12 points, Kirby put up 11 points, and Myers and Lucas-White scored 10 points each. 

The Jaguars (4-0) will head up north to Maryland to play against Bowie State University (0-5) on Sunday, Nov. 28, at 1 p.m.  

The game will be somewhat of a homecoming for guards Myers and Lucas-White who are both Maryland natives. Myers is from Baltimore and Lucas-White from Capitol Heights.

"It feels great, as family and friends are supposed to be coming to the game,” said Lucas-White. “It’s just like playing back at home. It’s just great to be in that environment. I’m used to it and we just got to come out there and win.” 

AU will be back at the Christenberry Fieldhouse on Dec. 2 to square off against Claflin College. The game was originally set to play at 11 a.m. and was going to be the return of AU’s Education Day for Richmond County students to attend, but due to the bus system not having enough drivers, it has been decided to instead play at 5:30 p.m. with admission being free for everyone.  

Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carrodriguez@augusta.edu.

Miguel Arnold (5) launches a three-pointer for the unbeaten Jaguars against Benedict on a night when he had 21 points to lead all scorers. At the top of the page, Troy Cracknell (12) knocks down a two-pointer en route to a 12-point night. (staff photos)