Gardner's 32 points lead the Jags over North Georgia in homecoming thriller

Justin Gray | Sports editor

The Augusta men hosted North Georgia for its Homecoming and Senior Day and narrowly escaped with the win, 65-61, at Christenberry Fieldhouse on Saturday, Feb. 22 in front of 1,234.

The Jaguar men only had one senior to recognize for Senior Day in Maximillian Amadasun, and he had some family members from Ireland there to support him. 

“It’s always good to have the people that you are close to come to a big game like this,” said the center from Dublin, Ireland. “You know for the last home regular season game we had to most importantly come out with a win.” 

With all the festivities going on, the gym was absolutely packed out, probably the most packed game the Jaguars have had this season aside from the two education days.

The game did not disappoint either, as it came down to the final possession. 

The first half was a sluggish and slow half with neither team scoring many points at all. In fact, after scoring 11 in the first four minutes of the game, AU would only muster 16 more points the rest of the half. 

Luckily for Augusta, the Nighthawks struggled on the offensive side as well and the Jaguars were able to take a 27-25 lead into the half. 

The two teams continued their battle well into the second half, until North Georgia gained the advantage, taking an eight-point lead on the Jaguars, its biggest of the game. 

Demitri Gardner single-handedly willed his team back into this one, steadily chipping away each possession down. He scored five unanswered points at the 2:57 mark to cut the UNG lead to one. 

With the Jags trailing 58-57, the outstanding junior knocked one of the biggest shots of the season to take a 60-58 lead. 

On the following possession, North Georgia’s Cayden Charles converted an impressive and-one to give the Nighthawks the lead back by one. 

Augusta showed resilience as they have all season and deep into the possession Evan Joyner got his feet set from beyond the 3-point line, put good spin on the ball and drilled a straightaway shot to give AU the 63-61 lead. 

“It felt good,” said Joyner, about the game-winning 3-pointer. “I’ve been in the gym working on my three-ball, trying to complete my game, so it's just a product of my hard work all season.”

UNG’s leading scorer AJ White (23 points) couldn’t handle the Jaguar defense and threw a pass out of bounds.  White had been superb all afternoon until that miscue.

The Nighthawks fouled with hopes of getting a miss and another chance to tie it up but those hopes dwindled when John St. Germain III knocked down both free throws.

“This was a heck of a win,” said AU Coach Dip Metress. “I’m happy for Max. He had a bucket and an assist down the stretch, and of course another double-double.”

Amadasun’s double-double became his 15th of the season, good enough for fourth in the nation. He totaled 12 points and 15 rebounds in this one. And his mother was in the stands Saturday, having flown from Dublin for the contest.

This was a big win for a few reasons, first of all it got AU over the hump that had been UNG the last few seasons, having lost three straight against the Nighthawks before tonight. 

The biggest of those reasons was clinching a top-four seed in the Peach Belt Conference tournament, which with the new format will give the Jaguars its quarterfinal game at home. Their opponent is TBD.

Augusta was led by Gardner in this one. He would finish the game with 32 points, almost half of the Jaguar’ points.

This was his second highest scoring output of the season, his first being the 38 points at Chowan in non-conference play. 

“It’s just setting the tone after the loss we took,” said the best scorer in the PBC and a Bevo Francis Award nominee. “It’s no secret that we went to Lander and got whooped, so we knew what we had to come out and do and I wanted to set the tone from the get-go.”

This has been the Jaguars mindset since the 0-4 start to the season, never letting one loss turn into multiple.

Since that rough start, Augusta has won 18 of 22 and have won multiple games in between each of those four losses. 

As usual, Augusta took high-percentage shots most of the day and finished at 50 percent from the field, compared to 43 percent for UNG. Led by Amadasun, AU had a 35-25 advantage on the boards.

Joyner finished with eight points, and Elias Palsson made of 3-of-5 3-pointers before fouling out.

Now for the Jaguars will be a trip to Georgia College on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. against a Bobcat team, who is fighting to make the conference tournament.

This will be no easy out as GCSU is one win away from getting into it with two to go, so you know Augusta will get the Bobcats’ best effort. Then, after that game, AU finishes the regular season at USC Beaufort.

The Augusta women’s basketball team fell short in its upset attempt against No. 9 North Georgia, losing 64-51.

Despite a narrow one-point loss to the Nighthawks on the road Jan. 25, the Jaguars were unable to match that intensity in front of a packed Homecoming and Senior Night crowd.

The game started as a back-and-forth battle, with both teams going on 5-0 runs in the first quarter. However, after those early exchanges, North Georgia took control and never relinquished the lead. A 14-0 run midway through the second quarter helped the Nighthawks build a 17-point advantage, their largest of the night.

Augusta managed to cut the deficit to four, 35-31, early in the third quarter, but North Georgia responded and pulled away once again.

The Jaguars were led by Elyse Autrey, who scored 13 points. For the Nighthawks, Caroline Martin paced the team with 25 points on an efficient 4-for-7 shooting from three-point range.

Despite the loss, Augusta remains in third place in the Peach Belt Conference standings, holding a one-game lead over Georgia College. The Jaguars will face the Bobcats on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 5:30 p.m. in Milledgeville.

Contact Justin Gray at jusgray@augusta.edu.

AU Coach Dip Metress is now just two wins away from his 15th 20-win season in 21 years at the Jaguar helm. At the top of the page, Demitri Gardner was on fire all day, totaling 32 points to improve Augusta to 18-8 overall and 12-4 in the Peach Belt with games left at Georgia College and USC Beaufort to finish the regular season. (Bell Ringer staff photos)