Jaguars defeat Columbus State in path to Peach Belt final
By Chris Rickerson | Sports editor
Augusta University men’s basketball team defeated Columbus State 87-75 in the semifinals of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament on Friday, March 4, at Christenberry Fieldhouse.
Freshman Ja’Queze Kirby tied as the Jaguars leading scorer on Friday night with 18 points and also played well on the defensive end with three blocks and one steal.
“With the combination of offense and defense and him banging a couple threes, he was very good, he guarded Gaither (Langston) most of the night, kept himself out of foul trouble,” said AU Coach Dip Metress.
Miguel Arnold also finished with 18 points, followed by Tyshaun Crawford with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Troy Cracknell finished in double figures as well with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, as AU won for the 13th straight game.
The Jaguars (27-3) played nearly perfect in the first half with zero turnovers and shot 9 of 9 from the free throw line. Metress commented on the team’s first half performance.
“They outrebounded us in the first half by three, but if you don’t turn the ball over, you don’t get an extra possession,” Metress said. “In our games where we got off to bad starts, we’ve turned the ball over, so we kind of emphasized it in the last couple days in practice and we didn’t turn it over the whole first half and that was significant to get a shot ever possession,” said Metress.
Despite the strong performance, Augusta only led 38-32 at the half.
The Jaguars would extend their lead to 11 points in the second half with only 4:51 remaining in the game. A controversial call by a referee late in the game would lead to a technical on Tyree Myers and gave the Cougars (20-10) a chance to try and make run.
The tough officiating would only energize the Jaguars even more as they would go to win by 12 points. Augusta shot an impressive 27-28 from the free throw line and only had three total turnovers in the game.
In the loss, Columbus State had to very respectable performances from Nelson Haskin, who shot 10-14 and led in scoring with 25 points, and Grant Howard finishing with 22 points.
Augusta will now look to capture their 10th men’s basketball conference title in school history.
“My last season, last year, it would be wonderful to cut down the nets one more time and hopefully get to host regional and go from there,” said Cracknell.
For some players, this will be there first time in the conference title game and even players’ first experience in a championship game period.
“It would probably be the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Kirby. “I’ve always wanted a championship or to get a ring because I have always wanted to accomplish something that big. I didn’t really ever get to do it in high school, so knowing I can do it as a freshman in college, that’s real big to me.”
The top-seeded Jaguars will face second-seeded Flagler (23-6) on Saturday, March 5, for the PBC Championship inside Christenberry Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. They split during the regular season with each team winning on its home floor. Flagler’s Jan. 22 win by a 79-66 score in St. Augustine was AU’s last loss.
“Flagler, when we lost to them down there, we didn’t have Kirby,” Metress said. “When we be beat them up here, they didn’t have their starting center Metzger (Chris), so both times we’ve played neither team has had a full lineup. Now they got all their guys, we got all our guys, now let see who can cut down some nets.”
Augusta is ranked first in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region, while Flagler is ranked fifth.
Contact Chris Rickerson at crickerson@augusta.edu.
AU’s Tyree Myers (2) defends against Columbus State’s Grant Howard (10). At the top of the page, the Jags’ Ja’Queze Kirby (13) goes up for two of his 18 points. (photos by Chris Rickerson)
