Augusta men get another win on the road; women sit tied for first in PBC

Justin Gray | Sports editor 

MORROW—For the third straight game, the Jaguars made their own breaks and pulled out a victory. This time it was at Clayton State, winning 82-78, on Wednesday night, Feb. 7.   

Winning games on the road has been a tough task for this team, but the Jaguars have won their last two and are playing better at the end of games.  

This one started out like every game for Augusta (5-6, 12-9) with the opposing team leading for most of the first half, but the Jaguars just stayed within striking distance.  

It was a face-paced game, different from the first time the two played. Clayton State led AU 21-16 through just nine minutes of play.  

The Jaguars stayed close and went up 37-36 on a Demitri Gardner 3-pointer, but it was short lived as Clayton State closed out the half on a 10-2 run to take a seven-point lead into the locker room.  

Former Augusta point guard and PBC champion Tyree Myers was in attendance for the game. He went into the locker room at the half and AU Coach Dip Metress let him address the team. 

“If you guys get stops, you’re going to win the game,” said Myers.  

He was right, the Jaguars came out in the second half and were a different team. They played more physical on both ends.  

With 14:17 to go in the contest, the AU was down 60-53.  

When the opposing team has a chance to defeat the Jaguars, you can feel the pressure in the gym, and it got to Clayton State as the Jaguars went on a 9-2 run to tie the game up.  

From there on, though, the game was tied. It felt like Augusta was in charge. With things tied at 70, freshman point guard John St. Germain III drove it down the lane and made a layup, poised as ever, to take the lead.  He would finish with 11 points.

On the next possession, Max Amadasun fought through traffic and made a layup to extend the lead to four. The Jaguars were able to hold on for another conference road win.  

The Jaguars have won three straight and are winners of four of their last five. They are exuding confidence on and off the court.  

“Every time we play, we have a target on our back,” said Gardner, who led the Jaguars in points with 23. “We just have to keep believing in each other and being what Augusta basketball is really about.” 

Ja’Queze Kirby followed in points with 17, and John St. Germain III led the team in assists with five, a number he has totaled in three of his last four outings.  He only had two turnovers—the kind of ratio that was typical for former point guard Myers, who led AU to the national title game two seasons ago.

Amadasun led in rebounds with his season low at six, but the rebounds were spread evenly across the board.  Carson Seemann came off the bench to pump in eight points. He made all four of his floor shots.

A key to this team’s success is Timmy Sellers. He doesn’t get a lot of love because he doesn’t show up much on the statsheet, but he does the dirty work for this team. When the Jags’ backs are against the wall, he always makes a play.  

Tonight, in just seven minutes, he totaled three points, two rebounds, one assist, a steal and a block.  

“To be able to come in and do my job, bring energy, play defense, and it feels good to win as a team,” said the Glenn Hills product. “I just want to do everything to help my team win. Coach Dip needed me to come in and do that tonight so that’s what I wanted to do.”  

This team is getting hot at the right time, and the Jaguars are a dangerous team in the PBC.  AU has won four of its last five.

“We’re playing better in longer spurts,” said Metress. “When we got the lead, we closed it out. We played great down the stretch.” 

Travis Harper II led the Lakers (3-8, 7-14) with 18 points.

The Jaguars (5-6, 12-9) will look to keep the momentum rolling as they head into rival USC Aiken’s house on Saturday, Feb. 10 looking to try to steal a win. AU is tied with Georgia Southwestern for fifth place in the men’s Peach Belt standings. Saturday's game will follow the women’s game.  

Onto the AU women, who after Wednesday night are tied for first place in the PBC with Georgia Southwestern. AU and GSW lead Lander by a game, and North Georgia and Columbus State by two games.

The Jaguar women (9-2, 15-6) have roared past their opponents as of late and nothing changed in this one as they rolled to a 67-55 win over Clayton State. 

The game was a slower start than usual for the AU women as they fell behind 11-2. It wouldn’t take long for the Jaguars to get rolling and cut the lead to only 17-15 at the end of the first quarter. 

They rolled that over into the second quarter and were leading 37-31 at the half, thanks to a host of Jaguars contributing.  

As usual, the third quarter is when Augusta flexes its muscles and finishes the game. The Jaguars did that by extending their lead to 55-45. Tomiyah Alford and Kennedi Manning had a lot to do with the score, dominating the paint.  

All that AU had to do in the fourth was hold on, the visitors did that as Yamani Paul showed up and closed out the game with her presence inside. 

The Jaguars are a tough veteran team that is stacked from top to bottom on the roster. 

For the most part no one has been able to stop Manning, but her teammate Alford has emerged as one of the best guards in the league. 

Alford, who is PBC player of the week, scored 25 points in this one, her fourth straight game with 20 or more points. On top of that, she grabbed eight rebounds. 

Manning added 14 points and eight rebounds.  Autumn Phillips scored 12, and Paul had 10.  

Clayton State (5-6, 7-13) was led by Jadah Waite and Nina Blade with 14 points each.

The Jaguars will head to USC Aiken on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 1:30 p.m. They defeated Aiken earlier in the season, 75-51.  They will face GSW on Feb. 17 in Augusta in what may well determine the regular-season championship on the women’s side.

Contact Justin Gray at jusgray@augusta.edu.

Ja’Queze Kirby (3) goes up for a jumper for the Jaguars in the 82-78 road win over the Lakers. At the top of the page, Demitri Gardner (2) came led AU with 23 points in the key Peach Belt Conference win for AU. (photos by Rachel Carman)

AU freshman John St. Germain II (14) totaled 11 points and five assists, running the Jaguar offense from the point guard position. The Charlottesville, Va., product had only two turnovers and made 5 of 7 from the field. (photo by Rachel Carman)