Augusta opens basketball season with exhibition at Georgia Southern
Justin Gray | Sports writer
The Augusta Jaguars men’s basketball team will take on Georgia Southern in an exhibition game on Friday, Oct. 20, at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro.
The Jaguars began full practice on Oct. 6 and have been hard at work for the past two weeks. It will be exciting to see how they match up with an experienced Georgia Southern team.
Augusta, ranked 10th in NCAA Division II to start the season, returns only six players from last year’s PBC regular-season co-championship team, one of those being David Viti, who will play a major role in the success this team has this season. Viti began his career at Georgia Southern and is looking forward to Friday’s contest.
“I’m excited to go down there and get a chance to play against other people because that’s the whole goal is to get experience against someone else,” said Viti, who is from Buford.
Viti will be in the starting lineup against Georgia Southern.
Ja’Queze Kirby returns this season as well. A starter on last season’s team and a key member of the team that went to the NCAA Division II national championship game two seasons ago, Kirby averaged 10.1 points per game as well as 5.5 rebounds. The junior will be a top scorer on this year’s team and is a big-time leader for the Jaguars. Kirby knows it’s a rebuilding season, but he knows the Jaguars have high potential.
“With the team as young as it is, I just want everyone to give their all and have no regrets,” Kirby said.
AU Coach Dip Metress knows that Viti and Kirby will be the team leaders.
“They will be the factor, both of them will be,” said Metress, “but also Timmy Sellers along with Carson Seemann, Demetri Gardner and Chris Britt, all having experience and being here.”
To pair with the returning players, Metress brought in five freshmen and two transfers. Maximillian Amadasun, a transfer from St. Bonaventure and Pittsburgh, will have the most impact as he was brought in to fill the big shoes of 7-foot-1 all-America Tyshaun Crawford, who is now playing professionally in Europe. Amadasun is a 6-10 post player and his presence inside will be a major factor for AU. He will get the start in the post Friday night.
Georgia Southern is a tough matchup because the Eagles are an older, more experienced team. They have six guys who are seniors or graduates, they also have a lot more depth. GSU brought in Charlie Henry as head coach. Henry, a former Alabama assistant, brings a new style of play to Statesboro. Along with him came transfers, most notably Eugene Brown III, who was the sixth man on Ohio State last season.
Coach Metress discussed GSU’s style of play.
“They’re going to be a heavy ball screen team, a lot of things in transition, and a lot of reading off of ball screen coverages,” Metress said.
Augusta will see these types of offenses some this season, so this is the perfect exhibition for the Jaguars.
The game will start at 7 p.m. and there is no admission fee. The game will not be streamed.
Contact Justin Gray at jusgray@augusta.edu.
Ja’Queze Kirby is the top returning scorers for the Jaguars. At the top of the page, David Viti returns to where he started in Friday night’s exhibition at Georgia Southern. (file photos)
