No. 11 AU men drop fourth game of the season at Lander

By Carlos Rodriguez and Madison Keel | Sports writers

The No. 11 ranked Augusta University men’s basketball team suffered a 81-63 road loss to Lander on Wednesday night, Feb. 8. 

After trailing at the half by 10 at the half, the Jaguars couldn’t stop the red-hot Bearcats from making play after play. Home-court advantage played a role in this game as Lander fed off the energy from their home crowd in Finis Horne Arena. 

AU (10-3, 19-4) was led by Tyshaun Crawford who scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Ja’Queze Kirby added 16 points with seven rebounds. 

Jared Sherfield led Lander (9-4, 17-6) with 18 points and eight rebounds. Both Jacob Cooper and Noah Dunn scored 15 points each. 

The Jags are now tied with North Georgia for first in the conference, while Lander and USC Aiken are both tied for second. 

Lander got going quick, jumping out to a nine-point lead at the 14:32 mark, after Dunn knocked down a 3-pointer to go up 15-6. 

AU fought back to bring it down to a three-point lead after scoring on back-to-back possessions from a dunk by Crawford and 3-pointer by Chris Britt, as they trailed 17-14 with 10:43 left. 

The next four minutes the Bearcats would go on a 17-4 run, going up 34-18 after Nigel Covin converted an and-one layup with 6:24 remaining. 

Cooper made a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but AU’s Miguel Arnold answered back with his own as the half concluded with the Jags down 41-31. 

In the second half, AU appeared to be the strong second half team they’ve been in several outings this season, cutting the lead to two. A dunk by Crawford on one possession and a steal and layup by Arnold on the next brought the Bearcats’ lead to 47-45 with 15:03 left.  

Lander never wavered though, continuing to build off their crowd and put points on the board. Eventually, the Bearcats extended their lead to double digits again, going up 65-53 at the 8:13 mark after a 3-pointer by Tommy Moore  

The smallest the Jags could cut it to after that point was nine. After being down 12 with under three minutes to go, AU Coach Dip Metress finally saw enough and brought the starters off the court and emptied the bench.  

Lander’s Navaughn Maise closed out the win with a dunk in the final seconds, sealing the upset 81-63 win. 

Lander held AU to shooting 41.1-percent from the field, while they shot 52.8-percent. 

In the women’s game, Augusta pulled out a 56-51 victory behind 18 points from Autumn Phillips. Tomiyah Alford added 15 for the Jaguars (7-6, 14-9). Kennedi Manning had 12 points for AU.

At the end of the first quarter, Augusta was down by four points, but being perfect from the free throw line and shooting 40 percent from the field, the Jaguars looked promising going into the second quarter.

The Jaguars cut the lead to one by halftime, as the two teams were fighting hard. Indeed, it would remain a close game in the second half. In all, the Jaguars and Bearcats swapped the lead a total of seven times throughout the game.

Augusta dominated the third quarter, putting up 17 points, compared to Lander’s 9. The momentum continued into the fourth quarter despite the opposition trying to catch up. The Bearcats put up 18 points in the final stanza, compared to Augusta 16. But it was not enough for the Bearcats to overtake and win.

Phillips made 8 of her 15 shots during her 18-point night. Manning racked up nine rebounds and was perfect from the free-throw line, going 4 for 4.

Interim Coach Celeste Stewart’s Jaguars are now in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Peach Belt Conference standings.

Augusta will host Young Harris this Saturday, Feb. 11. There will be an attempt to break the attendance record at Christenberry Fieldhouse. The games are free for everyone. The women tip off at 1:30 p.m. and the men at 3:30.

Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carrodriguez@augusta.edu; contact Madison Keel at mkeel@augusta.edu.

Ja’Queze Kirby had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Jaguars in their 81-63 loss at Lander. At the top of the page, Autumn Phillips drives in for two of her 18 points in the AU women’s victory over the Bearcats. (photos by Madison Keel)