No. 2 AU uses strong second half to defeat Emory in preseason exhibition
By Carlos Rodriguez | Sports editor
The No. 2 ranked Augusta University men’s basketball team defeated Emory University 95-77 in an exhibition game Saturday, Nov. 5, at Christenberry Fieldhouse.
Senior Tyshaun Crawford was the leading scorer for the Jaguars, finishing with 24 points in addition to leading the team with eight rebounds.
AU sophomore Ja’Queze Kirby finished with 21 points to go along with three rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Kirby electrified the crowd several times with his highlight plays, defensive stops and displaying his ability to score at all three levels.
“It really just comes from practice,” said Kirby. “The competition of how we compete and all, I have to find different ways in practice to score like that, so the game is a little bit of an easier flow because we’re so competitive during practice.”
Seniors Miguel Arnold and Darren Lucas-White also posted double figures for the Jags, finishing with 12 and 13 points respectively.
Emory freshman Benjamin Pearce led the way for the Eagles with 15 points, while sophomore Cale Martens finished with 13.
Eagles Coach Jason Zimmerman spoke about the inexperience of his team having eight underclassmen and how the opportunity to play a team like Augusta was a good experience.
“It was a great experience for us to learn,” said Zimmerman, who was a high school standout in Indiana before his college ball at Davidson. “We came here to compete and win, but we had a lot of lessons to learn, we had a very young crew here.”
Martens was the Eagles’ tallest player on the floor standing at 6 feet 7 inches tall, compared to the Jags’ 7-foot-1 presence of Tyshaun Crawford. Zimmerman spoke about the uniqueness of seeing a player with Crawford’s size.
“We’re not going to see a guy like their big guy,” said Zimmerman. “Heck, the Division I guys don’t see many of those guys.”
Augusta opened up the game with a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of the game after a series of baskets from Kirby after senior point guard Tyree Myers found him open on back-to-back possessions. Myers first found Kirby open during an inbound pass as he cut to the basket and threw down a dunk. The very next possession Myers found Kirby open in the corner for a 3-pointer.
“Kirby was good. He’s getting confident,” said AU head coach Dip Metress. “Kirby is always going hard, and our guys always know how to cover for him.”
The Jags picked up a couple quick steals on Emory’s first few possessions and pressured them to force a few unwanted shots that led to points on the offensive end for AU.
“It’s very hard to prepare for a team that runs on makes, but we were able to get our hands on balls and then we picked up our pressure a little bit,” said Metress. “Jason (Zimmerman) was telling us our hand quickness bothered them a little bit.”
AU redshirt freshman Demitri Gardner made his first career appearance for the Jags, joining the starting lineup and made a quick impact early on. In a span of 30 seconds, Gardner knocked down a mid-range jumper from the corner, then followed it up by converting an and-one 3-pointer from the opposite corner to give AU a 13-5 lead with 16:47 remaining. He also had several possessions where he guarded the ball well and got his hands on loose balls.
“He’s very good on the ball. He’s got to learn principles off the ball, but he played well,” said Metress.
In both the beginning of the first and second halves, Metress subbed in five new players when Emory scored reached a target number of points.
“I said if you give up six points you’re coming out,” said Metress. “It backfired the first half because our second team was a little nervous.”
Once the starting five was subbed out, the second group had some lapses on the defensive end allowing Emory to get going. The Eagles went on a 9-0 run before AU’s starting five was subbed back in. A 3-pointer by Pearce closed out the unanswered run to put the Eagles up 17-15 with 11:53 left in the half.
“I thought we started off very sluggish, then we got our feet under us and started playing a little bit better,” said Zimmerman.
The Jags quickly tied the game back after a made jumper from Kirby, but the Eagles regained the lead and held the lead for over three minutes. Kirby tied it once again after getting a steal and finishing a layup on the other end to knot things up at 25 with 7:04 remaining.
“I try to bring the energy for the team so everybody can get together and bring the energy together,” said Kirby.
This propelled the Jaguars to maintain the lead throughout the rest of the half. Crawford gave AU their biggest lead of the half after a dunk to go up 43-34. The Eagles made two free throws before the end of the half as the Jags led 43-36 at the break.
The second half started off with both teams trading baskets followed by another full substitution due to the six-point rule that the Jaguars did to start the half. This time, the secondary group looked more comfortable and locked in on defense. A hook shot by Timmy Sellers gave AU a 10-point lead with 17:27 left.
Emory was able to trim the lead to two points, after a 3-point make by Martens cut the game to 56-54 at the 13:27 mark.
AU kept applying pressure and increased their lead. Earlier in the game, Kirby grabbed an offensive rebound and quickly put it back up for a massive dunk over a defender, but it was called an over the back foul. The Jaguars faithful and bench disagreed but Kirby made up for it a few minutes later after Arnold saw him cutting to the rim and threw him a lob as Kirby threw down the reverse slam. The dunk gave Augusta a 67-58 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
“Thats practice. We just tell each other if we’re here or there and we’ll notice and pick it out during the game,” said Kirby.
The Jaguars expanded their lead to 21, after Arnold knocked down a 3-pointer with under four minutes left. Daniel Allen gave them their biggest lead of the game after two free throws, putting them up 93-69. Both teams exchanged a couple more baskets as AU closed out the game with the 18-point victory.
Augusta shot 51.6-percent from the field, 58.8-percent from 3-point range and 65.7-percent from the free throw line. Emory shot 42.9-percent, 35.3-percent and 79.3-percent, respectively.
The Jags will start the official season Friday, Nov. 11, at the Pickle Classic hosted by the University of Mount Olive. They’ll play Mount Olive at 7 p.m., then play Barton College on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 5 p.m.
“I told our guys before the game ‘Embrace the fact that you get this recognition, understand that people are going to come after you but we’re not going to hide from it.’ Mount Olive and Barton are going to come rolling at us,” said Metress.
Emory (20-6 last season) will open with Piedmont in Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carrodriguez@augusta.edu.
Jaguar guard Miguel Arnold (5) launches a three-pointer; Arnold had 12 points and four assists in AU’s exhibition win over Emory University. At the top of the page, Darren-Lucas White (11) controls the ball for the Jags on a night when he had 13 points, two assists and two steals. (photos by Madison Keel)
