Jaguars rebound with 80-73 win over Columbus State

By Carlos Rodriguez | Sports editor

After suffering two straight losses on the road, the Augusta University men’s basketball team bounced back in the win column in the last game of their three-game road trip. The Jaguars defeated Columbus State 80-73, Monday night, Jan. 18. 

This was the second consecutive season that Augusta made the trip to Columbus on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Last year when the two teams met at the Frank G. Lumpkin Jr. Center, the Cougars defeated the Jaguars at the buzzer 61-60. 

“They’re a talented team, they switch defenses, they always have size, and they play very different from most people in our league in sense of switching defenses,” said AU Coach Dip Metress on what makes Columbus State a challenging team to compete against. 

Last season AU was up by five with 12 seconds remaining. On Monday night they were in a similar situation but knocked down free throws late in the game, allowing for history to not repeat itself.

In the win, the shorthanded Jags received all their scoring from the starting five who all recorded double figures. Junior Darren Lucas-White led in scoring, matching his career-high with 25 points to go along with seven rebounds. Lucas-White continues to lead the team in scoring averaging 20 points per game.

“He’s doing great; he’s helped tremendously,” said Metress on the way Lucas-White has evolved this season. “His offensive skillset has improved. He’s also not settling for jump shots. He’s taking it to the basket. Darren’s also our best defender. The growth of Darren, John (Whitehead III) and Lee (Flenor) help by not having guys around.”

Freshman John Whitehead III recorded a career-high 18 points, knocking down five three-pointers. Sophomore Lee Flenor added 16 points and nine rebounds. Juniors Tyshaun Crawford and Tyree Myers scored 11 and ten points, respectively. Myers dished out eight assists while Crawford grabbed seven rebounds.

“We had five double figure scorers and wasn’t by any means planned that way,” said Metress. “Whatever it takes to win we’ll do it. We’re winning ugly, this is kind of what we got to do this year and we’re just happy to get out of that one with a win.”

In the first half, the Jaguars jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead after Whitehead III knocked down his first three-pointer of the night with 16:52 remaining.

The Cougars gained their first lead of the game after a short jumper followed by a three-pointer from freshman Christian Chambers to go up 23-22 with 8:10 remaining. Chambers, who led CSU in scoring with 24 points, is an Augusta native who played his high school career at Evans. 

“He played really well, I was kind of happy for him,” said Metress. “When they recruited him I told Robert (Moore) ‘He’s a good kid and he likes basketball’ he was their best scorer that day.”

Lucas-White answered Chambers pair of buckets, connecting on an and-one layup on Chambers to put the Jaguars back up 25-23 with 7:46 left. 

Like Chambers, Whitehead III is an Augusta native as well and the two exchanged three-point baskets late in the first half. After CSU regained the lead, Whitehead III knocked down a three to tie the game at 31, followed by Chambers who knocked one down the next possession to go up 34-31. Whitehead III answered once again the next possession down, knotting things up at 34 with 1:53 remaining.

“He (Whitehead III) was dynamite,” said Metress. “The best thing was that he bounced back from his worst game on Saturday.”

Before time expired, Myers found Flenor open in the paint for a dunk to go up 37-36 at the end of the half.

At the half, Lucas-White had 13 points and Whitehead III had 10. For CSU Chambers had 15 points off the bench.

In the second half, after a couple lead changes the Cougars went up 44-41 after a three-pointer from Kalen Clifton. With 12:59 remaining, Flenor put the Jaguars up 54-50 after converting on and-one layups on back-to-back possessions. 

Chambers picked up where he left off knocking down two consecutive three-pointers to tie the game at 60 with under ten minutes to play. At the 7:24 mark Lucas-White rose up for a transition contact dunk to put AU up 62-60.  

Myers put Augusta up 69-66 after making a mid-range jumper with 3:22 to play. Clifton knocked down a free-throw line jumper to cut AU’s lead to 69-68 with 1:58 left.

In the final minute of play the Jaguars were fouled numerous times to stop the clock and they shot a perfect 11-11 from the free-throw line which carried them to the 80-73 victory. 

The previous two road games free throw misses cost the game for the Jags but in the second half they made all 15 of their free throw attempts.

“It changes your mentality in so many ways when you make free throws,” said Metress. 

In Augusta’s previous game on Saturday, Jan. 16, they suffered a tight loss on the road to Georgia Southwestern, 67-66.

In the loss Flenor led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds. Lucas-White scored 15 and grabbed eight rebounds. Crawford posted a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds. Myers and Shawn Moss scored nine each. 

Moss returned to the court after not being able to play the previous two games. 

“He was coming out of COVID-19 protocols, so he was limited on his minutes,” said Metress. “He made a couple shots. It was nice to have somebody else to go to.”

Georgia Southwestern was led by Kahlon Whitley with 24 points and C.J. Hood with 18.

The Jaguars biggest lead of the game was only a two-point lead which they only had early in the first half. The Hurricanes biggest lead of the first half came after Dontevious Tatum made a layup to go up 22-12 with 7:26 remaining. AU fought back to cut the lead to 28-25 before the half ended after Lucas-White converted an and-one layup.

At the beginning of the second half, the Hurricanes went on a 10-0 run to give them a 13-point lead with 17:46 remaining.  Augusta fought back and got their only lead of the half after Lucas-White made a layup to go up 47-46 with 10:45 left.

Georgia Southwestern managed to take back the lead but the Jaguars continued to stay within reach. With a minute left, Lucas-White knocked down a free throw to cut GSW’s lead to 62-60. Myers knocked down a big three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left on the clock to cut the lead to 67-66 but miscommunication allowed GSW to successfully inbound the ball and run away with the 67-66 win. 

“We did not play well enough to win,” said Metress. “First time our guys have gone on the road and played and it was a unique crowd, so we did not play well but we gave ourselves a chance to win.”

Augusta (4-2, 2-2) will play a home conference game tonight, Jan. 20, against Lander (4-4, 2-2) at 7 p.m. The game will be livestreamed on pbcsportsnetwork.com.

Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carlosjr521@gmail.com.

Darren Lucas-White (11) poured in 25 points in the win at Columbus State; he added seven rebounds and drew the praise of his coach, Dip Metress. (photos by Carlos Rodriguez and Viraj Bulla)