Jaguars open season with pair of road losses; AU women win two
By Justin Gray | Sports writer
The Augusta men’s basketball team fell to both Mount Olive and Barton College this weekend at the 45 Second Classic at Barton College.
This was the first time the Jaguars have lost a game in this “tournament” since the 2019-20 season.
To add to the sting, the Jaguars held double-digit leads in both games and were not able to make it out with a win.
On opening night, when Mount Olive won 99-87, both teams played a sloppy game as the Jaguars had 24 turnovers to Trojans’ 18, and the two teams combined for 58 fouls.
Mount Olive made 31 free throws, compared to 26 for the Jaguars. The Trojans also shot 36.4 percent on 3-pointers, while the Jags only made 20 percent of their treys.
The Trojans built a 48-44 halftime lead. Augusta cut the lead to one in the second half, but Mount Olive built the lead to 70-59 with 12 minutes to go. Then they stretched the lead to 16 and never looked back.
Demitri Gardner paced the Jaguars, scoring 23 points and leading the team with nine rebounds. Maximillian Amadasun totalled 15 points and five rebounds before eventually fouling out.
The guard tandem of John St. Germain III and Zyere Edwards added a combined 20 points.
Redford Dunton for Mount Olive was the difference in the game as he totaled as many points as he had minutes with 23. Lureon Walker added 16.
The Trojans were able to control the game by getting a big, physical Jaguar team in transition, and AU just couldn’t keep up.
Onto the second game, when the Jaguars fell, 87-86, as they missed a shot at the buzzer. They led by as much as 20 in the first half and 18 in the second half.
This was very similar to the Jaguars’ first loss from last season when they led Fayetteville State by 17, but let the Broncos back in and lost the game.
The reason for mentioning that is, when you have a young team like AU has had the last two seasons, you’re going to get these types of performances where you lose focus and lose a game you shouldn’t but there’s a lot to learn through these games.
The only senior on the team, Amadasun was upset with the loss.
“The job isn’t done until the clock hits zero,” the 6-foot-11 center said. “We were up in both games, and we softened up. We need to learn how to weather the storm because basketball is all a game of runs.”
On the bright side, the center from Dublin, Ireland, finished with his best game of the season, totaling 17 points and seven rebounds.
Gardner was impressive, once again, with 24 points, 20 of those coming in the first half. He now has at least 22 points in every contest (including the two exhibitions).
St. Germain showed why he’s one of the better point guards in the conference with seven assists and then adding 19 points.
The offense has done what it needs to do, but the defensive side needs some improvement if the Jaguars want to be where they think they can.
They allowed 10 three-pointers in this one, eight of those coming from Jett Fortuny’s smooth stroke; he finished with 28 points and single-handedly brought the Bulldogs back into this game. Shawn Nelson followed him with 26 points.
Jaguar coach Dip Metress was very cut and dry with his thoughts on the weekend.
“Tough weekend for the Jags,” he said. “We had four freshmen play major minutes and they will learn from it. We need to get Evan Joyner healthy. He will help with his maturity..”
Joyner has a sore foot.
There’s obviously plenty of time for Augusta to get things rolling, but it won’t get any easier as they head to Georgia Southern on Monday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. They will follow that up by hosting No. 19 Florida Southern on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m.
The aforementioned Gardner knows he’s got to help get his guys ready.
“I will prepare my guys by demanding that our expectations are to get everybody bought in on what it really means to play for Augusta basketball,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Jaguar women opened the season with a 64-52 win over North Greenville in Tigerville, S.C. Senior Je’Bria Fullwood led AU with 13 points, and senior Autumn Phillips added 12 for the winners.
The Augusta women then downed Barton College on Nov. 9 by a 56-49 score. Mone Florence led AU with 14 points.
The Jaguar women’s home opener is Wednesday, Nov. 13, when they host Newberry in Christenberry Fieldhouse at 5:30 p.m.
Contact Justin Gray at jusgray@augusta.edu.
Guard John St. Germain III had 11 points in the Jaguars’ 99-87 loss to Mount Oliver in their season opener at Wilson, N.C. At the top of the page, center Max Amadasun scored 15 points for AU against the Trojans and 17 against Barton. (photos by Paula Toole/AU Athletics)
