Augusta University’s basketball programs hosted their annual Cancer Awareness night on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
The Georgia Cancer Center was on site for the game as they paired with Augusta University to make this happen.
There were places set up throughout Christenberry Fieldhouse where fans could make donations. There were also several cancer patients and survivors were at the game. By attending the game, they got to see both Jaguar teams dominate their Peach Belt Conference foes Georgia College and State University.
It all started with the women, who were coming off of their toughest loss of the season at No. 7 (at the time of the game) North Georgia, where it trailed by 17 and came all the way back to take the lead before being heartbroken by a layup to end it.
Nevertheless, they got back on track with a blowout win, 63-33.
It was a slow start as the score at the end of the first quarter was only 12-8, and by half the score was only 21-14.
You may wonder why, well these are two of the best defensive/rebounding teams in the conference, so when they clash it’s always low-scoring.
Whatever head coach Celeste Stewart’s message at halftime was, it was effective as the Jaguars outscored the Bobcats, 26-10, in the third quarter.
Most of that was thanks to Autumn Phillips getting the Lady Jags off the mat with seven points in the period.
Georgia College’s 10 points in the third were the most they scored in a quarter due to a strong defensive performance from AU.
Yamani Paul led Augusta with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Phillips totalled nine to follow up Paul.
This is one of the most balanced scoring teams in the nation, and it’s because they are a bunch of unselfish players, whoever gets an open shot is willing to take it and they are always looking to find a teammate that is open.
They will now head on the road to take on Columbus State at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1. AU won the game the first time around, 63-52.
AU men’s basketball
The men’s basketball team got back on track after a very similar loss to what women had.
They played a very banged up and struggling Georgia College team, who only has one win in conference play.
Augusta handled business and did exactly what they were supposed to do against a lesser opponent.
The Jaguars took an early 18-8 lead thanks to Demitri Gardner, who was later honored, after his 13th point of the game for joining the 1,000 point club at Augusta University.
By the way, he became the 39th member to ever get into the exclusive club and he’s only a junior and will have the chance to vault himself into the top 10, maybe top five scorers in the history of the program.
Nonetheless, Georgia College battled back and made it a one point game, that was as close as it got as AU coasted the rest of the half, leading 42-29 at the break.
The second half started on a 22-14 run by the Jaguars, giving them their largest lead of the game, 21 points.
That lead would dwindle down to 88-76 by the end of it, but it was never in doubt as Augusta improved to 6-2 in the conference and 12-6 overall.
The aforementioned Gardner finished with 23 points, tied for the highest in the affair with Maximillian Amadasun.
Amadasun grabbed 16 rebounds on top of that and leads the conference in rebounds per game.
Head Coach Dip Metress was pleased with his guys getting the job done, but knows they need to be better.
“We didn’t play that well, but it was a good team win, it makes us 6-2. I told the guys, enjoy the night, but let’s get ready for Columbus State.”
That matchup with Columbus State that coach mentioned is probably the biggest game of the season, especially to date.
The Jaguars won the first matchup, 79-75, but that is CSU’s only conference loss as they sit at 7-1 and first in the league.
If AU can pull off this win, it would put them in the driver’s seat and in control of its own destiny as far as winning the regular season conference championship goes.
That game will take place on Saturday, Feb. 1, 30 minutes after the women’s game goes final, be sure to tune in on the https://pbcsportsnetwork.com/csucougars/.
