AU men's hoops team falls short after late rally against Lander

By Carlos Rodriguez | Co-editor in chief 

After being down as much as 19 points with 11 minutes remaining, the Augusta University men’s basketball team rallied to cut the deficit down to five, but it wasn’t enough as the No. 12 ranked Jaguars suffered an 88-81 road loss to Lander on Wednesday night. 

Tyshaun Crawford led AU with a double-double scoring 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Miguel Arnold had 16 points while Darren Lucas-White and Troy Cracknell 

The Jags (2-2, 12-2) outscored the Bearcats (2-2, 7-6) in the second half but their first half performance came back to haunt them.  

Lander fed off the energy of the home crowd inside Finis Horne Arena. The Bearcats dominated the first half, making difficult 3-point and mid-range shots. They made nine 3-pointers and shot 62.5 percent from the field the entire game. 

The Bearcats led the entire game after taking the lead early and opened up the first eight minutes jumping out to a 10-point lead over AU. Their biggest lead of the half came at the 5:52 mark after Zane Rankin made a 3-pointer.  

Augusta struggled on the defensive end as Lander continued to maintain a double-digit lead. Despite defensive struggles, the Jags battled their way in the paint to get sent to the free throw line. They shot 20 free throws in the half compared to Landers four shot attempts from the line, knocking down 17 of them.  

AU trimmed Lander’s lead to 13 before halftime after Arnold made a layup as time expired to head into the break down 51-38. 

Crawford led AU at the half after playing a big part of their success at the line shooting 12 of 15 to finish with nearly half of AU’s points with 18 points.  

After being down 15 In the second half, Arnold got Augusta within single digits after making back-to-back 3-pointers to cut Lander’s lead to 55-46 with 16:27 left. 

With 14:28 remaining Crawford made a dunk to get within nine points again, but Lander went on a 10-0 run that gave them another 19-point lead of 68-49 with 11:09 to play. 

Lander’s 10-0 run was followed by a series of baskets from Lucas-White, Tyree Myers and Troy Cracknell giving AU to a 7-0 run. 

Cracknell got AU within single digits again after knocking down a 3-pointer from the wing with 5:50 remaining.  

The Jaguars had the lopsided free throw attempt advantage in the first half but in the second half it flipped around with the Bearcats having the edge. AU shot only seven free throws, making four of them, while LU shot 21 times at the line and knocked down 16 of them.  

The foul calls hurt Augusta as sixth man Darren Lucas-White fouled out with 3:49 remaining and starter Ja’Queze Kirby fouled out with 2:03 left. Both were crucial as AU was only down single digits.  

Augusta fought and tried to cut the deficit while quickly fouling late in the game but could only cut the lead to as little as five. David Viti made a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to cut the lead to 86-81 but two more free throw makes by the Bearcats would seal the game.  

Lander had five players in double figures. LaRaymond Spivery led with 19 points. Nigel Colvin, DaJuan Moorer, Rankin and Jared Sherfield had 13 points each. 

AU held Lander to a better shot percentage from 3-point range in the half at only 14.3- percent but the Bearcats used the free throw line to lift them to victory.  

In a short way to sum up the loss, it was an off night for Augusta. They shot 36.4-percent from deep which hurts when a big percentage of your points comes from the 3-ball and they gave up the most points they have all season.  

The Jaguars will host Columbus State (3-2, 11-3) on Saturday, Jan. 15, at 3:30 p.m at Christenberry Fieldhouse. Augusta looks to avenge the loss they suffered to the Cougars in their first battle on Dec. 20. 

Note: At the top of the page, Tyshaun Crawford (0) puts up a half hook; he scored 26 points to lead the Jaguars. (photo by AU Athletics)

Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carrodriguez@augusta.edu.