BASKETBALL

Jags ride early 3s to win over Lions

David Lee
david.lee@augustachronicle.com

Augusta University gave a fieldhouse full of fifth-graders plenty to cheer for Thursday.

The Jaguars knocked down a barrage of 3-pointers early and held on late to top Emmanuel College 77-70 at Christenberry Fieldhouse.

A late-morning start didn’t shake an Augusta team coming off a hard-fought, overtime win over Georgia College this past Saturday. The school played host to its annual education day game with Richmond County elementary school students creating raucous cheers with every point scored.

“The running joke is it’s the Dip Metress Education Game in the league, because everybody is kind of copying it,” Augusta coach Dip Metress said. “Richmond County is unbelievable for reaching out to do this. It’s a fun atmosphere. There’s no hitches, just a lot of noise and a lot of candy being bought.”

The cheers came often for Augusta (5-2, 1-0 Peach Belt Conference), which sank nine 3-pointers, including seven in the first half.

Miguel Arnold scored 22 points to lead Augusta, including four 3s, while Tyree Myers added 13 points. The Jaguars totaled five players in double figures.

Emmanuel’s Kendrick Colvin caused Augusta fits throughout, posting 35 points and 13 rebounds.

The big advantage came early for Augusta by racing to a 15-5 lead at 14:40 after a short jumper by Rafael Monteiro.

The lead hovered around 10 for much of the first half, sparked by a number of 3s finding net.

Myers hit a deep 3 at 12:55 for a 20-9 lead, followed by consecutive 3-pointers from Darren Lucas-White at 11:20 and 10:00 for a 28-14 advantage. Arnold got in on the act with one at 8:10 for a 31-17 lead.

The Jaguar advantage was 47-31 at the half with 15 points from Arnold, including three 3-pointers.

“We were feeling good,” Arnold said. “Everybody was trusting each other, so we were believing in our shot and that’s what we were doing the whole game.”

Augusta hit its largest lead of the second half at 18 multiple times, the last coming on a 3 by Arnold with 13 minutes left at 57-39.

Emmanuel (5-4) climbed back to within single digits for the first time since early in the first half when Kyler Ingram made a putback to trail 65-56 with 6:30 left. The deficit continued to shrink to three at 71-68 with 26 seconds left, but free throws from Williams and Myers sealed the victory.