Strong defensive outing lifts Jaguars to dominant win over Bobcats

By Carlos Rodriguez | Co-editor in chief 

Defense wins games, and that’s exactly what the No. 12 ranked Augusta University men’s basketball team emphasized in their win over No. 21 Georgia College on Wednesday night, Jan. 5.

The Jaguars (11-1, 1-1) hosted the Bobcats (10-2, 2-1) at Christenberry Fieldhouse, defeating them 73-52. Despite a 21-point win, it was the second half that AU created separation. After being up only five at the half, the Jags outscored Georgia College 42-27 in the second half.  

“Tonight we were really good defensively,” said AU Coach Dip Metress. “If you take out the rebounding aspect, we’d almost be perfect on defense. They missed a lot of shots, but we didn’t secure those rebounds.” 

Augusta received a balanced scoring effort as five players recorded double figures. Tyshaun Crawford and Ja’Queze Kirby led with 14 points each, followed by 12 points from both Troy Cracknell and Tyree Myers. Darren Lucas-White added 11 off the bench.  

“I don’t believe in one guy taking 18-19 shots unless they’re not guarding him,” said Metress. “We want to be balanced and share the ball. We were really good defensively and then when we settled in offensively, we do what we’re supposed to do.” 

Myers, who had a strong scoring stretch in the second half, spoke about his mindset during the game. 

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” said Myers. “I came off on one play I didn't shoot it. Coach Dip told me they weren't even playing me, so we ran the play again, and I came off and hit the mid-range shot . I think it just got me going. I was being more aggressive the second half and everything opened up for the whole team.” 

Georgia College’s Chris Parks looked strong out the gate, scoring the first six points of the game for the Bobcats as they jumped out to an early 6-1 lead. The Jaguars were able to keep Parks quiet the rest of the game.  

The Bobcats stretched their lead to eight after Jordan Thomas knocked down a 3-pointer to go up 9-1 with 15:46 remaining. Thomas, who is one of the best players in the Peach Belt Conference and averages 18.4 points per game, was held to three points in the half. He finished with 10, which is the lowest number of points he’s scored all season.  

“He’s one of the best players in our league, and he never really got going and that’s credit to our guys defensively,” said Metress. 

AU fought back and took their first lead of the game after a fastbreak layup by Lucas-White put them ahead 11-9 with 12 minutes left to play.  

After exchanging the lead a couple of times, Augusta regained the lead after Crawford made a layup to go up 18-16 and held onto the lead the rest of the game.  

Late in the half as the shot clock was winding down, Cracknell knocked down a fading 3-pointer to give AU a 31-23 lead. Georgia College’s Wesley Simpson answered with his own triple as the Bobcats trailed the Jags 31-26 heading into the half.  

The Jags held the Bobcats to 28.6-percent from the field, only making 8-of-28 field goals.  

In the second half Augusta quickly increased its lead to 12, scoring three unanswered baskets from Myers, Cracknell and Kirby.  

With under 12 minutes left, Myers drove through the lane and converted an and-one layup that energized the team.  

“We play off each other. If one guy gets it going we all happy for that guy and everybody gets it going,” said Myers. 

Georgia College’s offensive struggles continued as Augusta capitalized on misses and turnovers. Kirby took advantage to display his athleticism after stealing the ball from Thomas then passing by his opponent with a behind-the-back dribble move and flushing down a dunk to get the crowd and bench players out of their seats. The dunk gave AU a 20-point lead of 60-40 with 6:27 remaining.  

The Jaguars obtained their biggest lead of the game at the 2:07 mark when David Viti knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to go up 73-48. Viti’s bucket was the last made shot for AU as Georgia College scored four more points before the buzzer. 

Metress stated the game plan was to take away 3-point shots, and the Jaguars defense did just that. Georgia College took 34 3-pointers and only made six of them. AU’s defensive outing held the Bobcats to 26.7-percent from the field and in return on the offensive end displayed a 50-percent field goal performance.  

“We always have the defensive mindset where our offense is going to come whenever, but we just got to stay locked in on defense and sure enough we stayed locked in on defense and our shots started to fall and we started to pull away,” said Myers. 

Simpson led the Bobcats with 17 points to go along with Thomas’ 10.

Augusta will host Young Harris (3-9, 0-3) on Saturday, Jan. 8, which Metress says will be another 3-point shooting team. Game time is 3:30 p.m.

“We got to take away the three ball,” said Metress. “They take more than these guys, and these guys just took 34. We haven’t faced the style they play. They are committed to running the ball on made buckets. We have not played anybody who runs on makes like this so that’ll be something to work on for Friday.” 

Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carrodriguez@augusta.edu.

Troy Cracknell (second from right) goes up for two of his 12 points while teammate Tyshaun Crawford (far left) crashes the boards. (photo by Carlos Rodriguez) At the top of the page, Crawford (0) wins the center jump to start the game. (photo by Paula Toole, AU Athletics)

AU’s Darren Lucas-White goes in for a layup as the Bobcats’ Chapin Rierson (0) and Brandon Thomas (23) defend. (photo by Carlos Rodriguez)