Augusta University’s men’s basketball team won both of their Peach Belt Conference home games this week to improve to 5-1 in conference play and stayed in a three-way tie for first place.
The team is currently tied with Columbus State and USC Beaufort, but holds the tiebreaker because of the head-to-head, in which the Jags are 1-0 against both.
The first game of the week head coach Dip Metress’ squad took on a talented Flagler team who walked into a buzzsaw on Wednesday, Jan. 15, as AU hosted their annual “Stuff the Stadium” event.
The Augusta University students pack out the crowd and bring stuffed animals to throw on the court when the Jaguars knock down their first bucket of the game, thus making it a ruckus environment.
AU came out of the gates guns a-blazing, shooting 69% from the field and 71% from behind the arc in the first half en route to a 54-32 lead.
They wouldn’t stop there as they continued the onslaught in the second half, extending the lead to as many as 35 points.
The Jaguars would let off the gas a bit and finished out the affair with a 102-71 victory.
Demitri Gardner led AU with 28 points, five rebounds and three assists. He was followed by Maximillian Amadasun, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Point guard John St. Germain III also added 16 points and seven assists.
This was a nice bounce back win after a blowout loss to rival USC Aiken just three days before.
They took this momentum into Saturday’s game against Georgia Southwestern, a team who had struggled to this point.
The Jaguars also held their first ever “Pajama Night” as the game didn’t tip off until 9 p.m.
Everybody in Christenberry Fieldhouse was donning PJ’s, even coach Metress got to wear his on the bench.
The late start presented a challenge for the Jaguars to get going and they were propelled by Gardner, who scored the first 12 points of the game.
The game was much tighter in the first half the AU would’ve liked as they went into halftime only leading 35-32.
The Jags got it to their biggest lead of the game (11) with about 11 minutes left in the game, Georgia Southwestern, made a run to make AU sweat, but it wasn’t enough.
This improved Augusta to 11-5 on the season, winners of 11 in their past 12 games.
This would be their toughest week of the season as the Jaguars were supposed to head on the road to Lander and North Georgia, but due to winter storm “Enzo”, the matchup with Lander has been postponed and the makeup date in TBD.
The Jaguars next take the court will be Saturday, Jan. 25 at 3:30 p.m. Fan can tune in on the PBC Sports Network to watch the game.
