Tyshaun Crawford scored a career high 35 points to lead Augusta to an 86-61 victory over Georgia College Saturday in front of 1,206 fans in attendance for Military Appreciation Day at Christenberry Fieldhouse. The 7’1” senior center fully displayed the soft shooting touch he has developed over his four-year career in Augusta. The returning Peach Belt Conference Co-Player of the Year and Beevo Francis (national player of the year) Award candidate made multiple jump shots out to 16 feet, he finished jump hooks in heavy traffic, and he even made a sweeping, old fashioned hook shot off of one leg.
Crawford made 12 of 16 field goal attempts and 11 of his 14 free throws as Augusta outscored Georgia College in the paint 36-20. David Viti scored 11 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, Miguel Arnold and Demitri Gardner each added 10 points, and Ja’Queze Kirby chipped in 9 points and 8 rebounds while also providing a show stopping windmill dunk in the first half.
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“Hitting the ball”
Augusta sprinted to a 54-27 halftime lead Saturday by overwhelming Georgia College on the defensive end, forcing the Bobcats to shoot 31% from the field and commit 14 turnovers before halftime. The Jaguars grabbed an astonishing 13 steals in the first half. During a post game interview, head coach Dip Metress spoke highly of his team’s effort in disrupting Georgia College’s offense.
“A couple weeks ago I told (assistant coach) Kevin (Williams) to start keeping track of deflections,” Metress explained. “We had 17 deflections in the first half. That’s good. It means we’re hitting the ball. It led to a lot of easy baskets. We were really good. When they drove it our help was good. I was really proud of our defense.”
The easy baskets that the defense created led to a sizzling 61% field goal number for the Jaguars during the first half. Augusta made 6 of 9 three pointers during the stretch, and three of them came directly after steals made on the defensive end.
For the game, Augusta tallied 17 steals as a team. Senior guards Miguel Arnold and Tyree Myers each made four steals, and forwards Ja’Queze Kirby and David Viti made three steals each.
Stepping up
Freshmen Demetri Gardner and Chris Britt made the most of their increased playing time while veterans Darren Lucas-White and Timmy Sellers were sidelined due to injury. Gardner, a redshirt freshman, got the start in place of Lucas-White, and he scored 10 points in the first half, including 6 of Augusta’s first 8 points. And for the second straight game Britt provided instant offense off the bench. The true freshman scored 7 points during his first three minutes on the court after checking in at the 14:28 mark of the first half.
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Next for the Jaguars
Augusta, ranked No. 14 in the most recent national poll, improved to 19-3 overall and 10-2 in Peach Belt Conference play. The Jaguars currently stand one game in front of North Georgia and two ahead of both Lander and USC Aiken.
The coming week will be important as Augusta will travel to Lander (16-6, 8-4) Wednesday night for a 7:30 P.M. matchup before returning home Saturday for a 3:30 P.M. game against Young Harris (17-4, 8-4).
Saturday’s game against Young Harris will be free for all to attend as the university has designated it the “Break the Attendance Record” game.
Follow Chad Cook’s coverage of local sports on Facebook and Instagram at @AugustaPressSports, and on Twitter at @AugPressSports.
