Broncos edge Jaguars on buzzer beater

By Justin Gray | Sports writer

Augusta basketball lost 77-76 at Fayetteville State on a last-second shot Tuesday, Nov. 14, in Fayetteville, N.C.

The game started out well for the Jaguars, who opened on a 13-5 run. Augusta kept that pace and finished the first half leading, 38-31. 

So far the Jaguars had shot the lights out, shooting 53 percent from the 3-point line. Demetri Gardner led the team with nine points.  

The second half, much like the first, looked good for the Jaguars, even stretching the lead to 14 points (58-44) with 11:14 left to go in the game.  

Fayetteville State responded to that with a 15-0 run, taking the lead for the first time since the first minute of the game. It was a back-and-forth battle from there on out. The Jaguars took the lead with five seconds remaining on a Zyere Edwards layup that was called for goaltending by FSU.  

With one final possession, FSU gave it to its best player, Tairell Fletcher, who already had 24 points, and he took it down court, set up behind a screen and made the shot of his lifetime as time expired to take down the No. 10 team in NCAA Division II.  

Not all is bad for the Jaguars, though. This was a tough matchup for a young, inexperienced basketball team. They can learn a lot from this loss and capitalize when they can.

“We just need to keep growing as a team,” said Jaguar senior David Viti. “This is our third game together with everyone in their new roles. We’ll be OK. It’s a tough loss, but one we’ll grow and mature from. We let them go on a late run instead of closing the door on them. The game wasn’t won on the last shot; there’s a lot of things we could’ve done to prevent us from even being in that situation.  That’s on all of us, and we’ll learn from it.” 

Viti led the team in scoring along with Ja’Queze Kirby. Both had 15 points. Gardner followed with 13 of his own.  

Kirby mentioned that he thought the team “made some shots” and that “everyone stayed together throughout the whole game,” regarding things that went right for the Jaguars.  

The Jaguars shot 48 percent from the field, another high percentage game, something to continue building on down the stretch.  

Center Max Amadasun had another solid night at the rack with another double-double, 12 points and 10 rebounds.  

“We had a three-minute stretch from about 9;50 mark until the 6;50 mark in the second half where we went from up 12 to them tying the score.,” said AU Coach Dip Metress. “We had numerous empty possessions and gave up a few offensive rebounds as well. It was a tough loss but I think we grew in a lot of areas.  We now have 6 games at home during this next stretch of games.”

The Jaguars will begin that stretch in their next game on Tuesday, Nov. 21, for their first home game against Benedict College at 7:30 p.m. at Christenberry Fieldhouse.

 Contact Justin Gray at jusgray@augusta.edu.

Ja’Queze Kirby (3) had 15 points, but that was not quite enough as the Jaguars lost to Fayetteville State on a last-second 3-pointer by Tairell Fletcher. At the top of the page, Davion McAdam (22) scored 10 points for AU of the bench. (photos by Paula Toole, AU Athletics)