Augusta men stave off pesky Lander, improve to 17-7

Justin Gray | Sports editor

The Jaguar men won their third straight game in a close one against sneaky Lander, 76-73, on Monday, Feb. 17, at Christenberry Fieldhouse. 

Augusta improved to 17-7 overall with the win, and if you go back to the 0-4 start, it has now won 17 of its last 20 games. What a turnaround for this Jaguar team. 

Tonight was one of the more gutsy wins of the bunch, Lander knocked down a big three-pointer every time it felt like the Jaguars were going to pull away in the second half.

Noah Dunn, who has been a consistent challenge for Augusta in every matchup with Lander for the last three years, made most of those shots.

He has averaged 13.5 points per game against AU in the previous four matchups and tonight, he was even better as he scored 29 points and led all scorers, he also grabbed 13 rebounds. 

The good news for the Jaguars was the mistake he made that overshadowed the point total. Dunn lost his cool with the officials after a missed foul call and got himself a technical foul. 

At the time of the call, AU trailed 58-54.

John St. Germain III made one of the two technical free throws. Then, TJ Baker knocked DOWN a 3-pointer in what became a four-point, game-tying play. 

That was the spark in a 10-0 run for Augusta.

From then on it was a back-and-forth affair, neither team giving way to the other until Demitri Gardner stepped up and made a play, as he has done all season.

The Peach Belt player of the week was double-covered and hit a jump shot over the two Bearcat defenders to give Augusta the three-point lead with one minute remaining. 

The Winchester, Va., product then rebounded the ball into a fastbreak, was fouled and made both free throws to give the Jaguars a five-point cushion. 

The usual under-one-minute fouling ensued, but unlike usual, things got interesting. 

Lander’s Torrin Andrews made a layup and got the foul call, then knocked down the free throw to make it only a two-point game. 

St. Germain made both free throws, but the aforementioned Dunn would get his final points of the night on his eighth made three-pointer to cut the lead to one. 

Gardner made both free throws after the next foul. Lander's final heave was off the mark, and Augusta secured the win.

There’s an interesting dynamic now that we don’t see much, if at all, at the college level: The two teams have to wrap around and play at Lander on Wednesday, Feb. 19. 

AU Coach Dip Metress addressed the unusual back-to-back games.

“You can’t go 0-2, you want to go 2-0 and at worst, now, we’re gonna go 1-1,” he said.

Now, there will be no surprises between the two teams. Of course, you see each other on film, but it’s completely different than playing someone. 

Going back to Monday’s win, the most impressive thing about it was the fact that Lander double-teamed Gardner all night and the Jaguars found a way to score points without him for most of the game.

Those came in the form of freshmen, Elías Pálsson and Baker, who combined for 22 points.

It’s getting scary for teams on the opposite bench of Augusta because they keep finding more ways to win.

Gardner still led the squad with 23 and not taking anything away from him but 10 of those came from the free throw line, so still not his usual night from the floor. 

Center Max Amadasun scored 16 quiet points and totaled eight rebounds. The Dublin, Ireland, native has been quietly putting together one of the best campaigns we’ve seen at the position in program history. 

AU’s Max Amadasun, drives to the basket against Lander’s Inady Legiste (Photo by Paula Toole/AU Athletics.) Top: AU’s Demetri Gardner puts up a contested shot against Lander (Photo by Paula Toole/ AU Athletics.)

He’s not worried about that, though, he’s just trying to give his team its best chance to win.

“We are definitely in a great place right now,” said Amadasun. “Some of our young guys came through big time and that just shows the levels of confidence we have now.”

The point guard, St. Germain, had 13 points and six assists for Augusta. 

Now, what’s on the line in the next one against Lander is a chance to clinch a top four seed in the Peach Belt Conference, which would give the Jaguars a home game in the quarterfinals. 

Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. 

Contact Justin Gray at jusgray@augusta.edu.