Freshman Lee Flenor got the "chest bump of the game," which Augusta head coach Dip Metress gives to one player after every road win, after Flenor injected some needed scrappiness into Saturday's second half against Barton, sparking a 25-8 run that stretched 8 minutes and propelled the Jaguars to an 88-85 win in its second of two 45 Second Classic season opening games at Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina last weekend.
During Augusta's pivotal second half run, Flenor scored 8 of his 12 total points and grabbed 6 of his game high 7 rebounds, including 3 on the offensive end that led to scores. Flenor capped the spurt by putting back his own miss while being fouled to give Augusta a 68-56 lead with 9:44 remaining.
Rafael Monteiro (18 points), Miguel Arnold (18) and Tyree Myers led Augusta in scoring. Monteiro, a preseason first team all Peach Belt Conference selection, made 6 of his 10 field goal attempts and all 5 of his free throws, capping an impressive first weekend for the senior, who scored 24 points and logged 11 rebounds and 4 assists in Friday's 88-82 loss to Mount Olive.
Sophomore point guard Tyree Myers also turned in his second solid performance of the weekend Saturday, dishing 8 assists to go along with his 17 points after a 10 point, 9 assist outing Friday. Myers scored 10 points during the final 7 minutes, halting an 8-0 run by Barton after Augusta's lead was cut to 4 with a shot clock beating finish high off the glass over the outstretched arms of a Barton defender that put Augusta ahead 72-66 with 6:17 remaining. Myers scored 10 of Augusta's final 18 points and made all 4 of his free throw attempts in the final 30 seconds while the Jaguars nursed a two possession lead.
Myers and fellow sophomore Miguel Arnold helped keep Augusta within striking distance throughout the first half. Arnold scored 11 points on 4-7 field goal shooting (3-6 from deep) during the first 20 minutes. And it was during that time when Myers tallied 7 of his game high 8 assists.
Augusta also benefited from timely shot making by junior Troy Cracknell, whose three pointer from the right wing with 16:40 remaining tied the game at 44. Cracknell later nailed a pull up jumper on the left wing that put the Jaguars ahead 54-52 with 13:25 left.
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| Troy Cracknell - Augusta |
Cracknell scored 9 points on 3-6 shooting after netting 16 in Friday's game. Factoring in the contributions from sophomores Darren Lucas-White and Tyshaun Crawford reveals that seven different players scored at least 9 points in one or both of the weekend's games.
Saturday's performance an improvement over Friday's
Coach Metress told us in an interview before Friday's opener that "nobody's any good this time of year," adding that "you don't really play your best basketball at this time of the year... at least hopefully not... you want to play your best basketball late in the year."
Despite that realization, Metress was noticeably frustrated after Friday's 88-82 loss to Mount Olive, and he was particularly displeased with his team's 19 turnovers. Despite shooting 47% from the field and out-rebounding Mount Olive 46-35, the Jaguars were unable to overcome their sloppiness with the ball and hold on to the 1 point lead they earned with 4:27 remaining after battling back from down as many as 8 points in the second half.
But the transition from Friday's turnover plagued opener to Saturday's crisp outing (Augusta committed only 8 turnovers while shooting 53% from the field and 82% from the free throw line) had to qualify as a kind of sign that this season's team is capable of making the progress that will need to be made for it to be able to approach the type of success that last year's championship squad was able to attain. Here's Dip Metress's conclusion after Saturday's win and the weekend's split:
"It was a great win. Any time you win on the road, you should be happy. And it gives us something to build on. We're still looking for identity. We really are."
Augusta will travel to Claflin for another non conference game Wednesday before next Tuesday's (November 19) home opener against Catawba.
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