Brown leads Georgia Southern to exhibition win over Augusta

Georgia Southern's Tookie Brown scored 27 points Friday

Tookie Brown and Ike Smith, who were both recently chosen as preseason first team All Sun Belt Conference players, combined to score 46 points to lead Georgia Southern past Augusta in exhibition action Friday. The game marked the first time in more than 25 years that a division 1 game was played at Christenberry Fieldhouse, home of the Jaguars, who made the move from division 1 to 2 after the 1991-92 season.



Augusta, which took a 22-11 first half lead after a Tamyrik Fields dunk, fell behind the Eagles 42-28 at halftime after a 31-6 Eagle run leading into the break. The Jaguars, led by Fields's team high 24 points, twice cut the deficit to 10 points in the second half. But foul trouble and the dynamic play of Southern's Brown, who led all scorers with 27 points, were too much for Augusta to overcome.

The Jaguars open the season Friday, November 10, against Mount Olive at Barton College. The Eagles open the same day at Wake Forest.

Links to keep up with the 6 colllege basketball and 3 high school football games that are on Friday's AugBball radar

Follow @AugBball on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter for all the latest in area hoops (and HS football) action.

Friday's CBB exhibition action is plenty!

On the radar for AugBball - Nov 3, 2017

On the @AugBball radar tonight for CBB and HS football:

(Good luck to all the competitors!)

AugBball Game of the Day

7:00 Georgia Southern​ @ Augusta​

Live stream with John Patrick and me: https://youtu.be/NgMuBqiC2oU

Live stats - http://augustajags.com/sports/mbkb/2017-18/boxscores/20171103_z5kr.xml

6:30 USC Aiken​ Women at the College of Charleston​

- features last season’s Peach Belt Conference​ freshman of the year Kwajelin Farrar (USCA via Grovetown) and Destiny Marshall (Charleston via Grovetown). High school teammates reunited.

Live stats - http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=chac

7:00 Charleston Southern​ vs Southern Wesleyan

- Preseason First team All Big South Conference​ pick Christian Keeling (Laney) leads the Bucs in their exhibition opener.

Live stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/mobile/?id=196257

Mars Hill​ at NC State

- MH includes Justen Hartfield (Greenbrier)

HS football region championship games at 7:30 -

Jefferson County at Screven County​

(If tonight’s special AU vs GS hurricane relief game had not been scheduled I would have been at the Screven County game.)

Aquinas​ at Stratford

Link to watch - http://dsbnsports.com/

Heritage at Evans​

Back to CBB...

7:30 Queens​ at Wake Forest​

The Royals, ranked #2 in Division 2 in a recent preseason poll, will try to follow last season’s exhibition game upset win over VCU with a road win in the ACC tonight. Daniel Carr (Midland Valley) returns for his sophomore season after making the SAC’s all rookie team last year.

Live stats - http://www.wakeforestsports.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mbaskbl.html?event=1559851&school=wake&sport=mbaskbl&camefrom=&startschool=&

8:00 UNC Pembroke​ at Creighton

The Braves were picked first in the Peach Belt Conference​ preseason coaches poll. Back to back exhibition games against Creighton and Northern Iowa will no doubt get the Braves ready for its coming opener against Lenoir-Rhyne​.

Live stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=192080

Augusta falls at Clemson but prepares for part 2 of the exam, Georgia Southern

Kyle Doyle (right) and Deane Williams (left) defend Clemson's Gabe Devoe Thursday.

Hopes of an Augusta University upset at Clemson faded soon after halftime Thursday when the Tigers outscored the Jaguars 49-23 in the final 20 minutes to hand Clemson an 80-56 exhibition game win over Augusta. The Jaguars led by as many as 11 in the first half and took a 33-31 lead into intermission.

“In the first half we were pretty good. In the second half we couldn’t match their physicality,” Augusta coach Dip Metress said after the game.

The Jaguars out-rebounded Clemson 22-17 in the first half, converting 8 second chance points along the way. Augusta was led by Deane Williams (11 points and 9 rebounds), Tyvez Monroe (11 points), TC Fields (10 points and 6 rebounds), and Kyle Doyle (9 points and 7 rebounds).

Full Game Highlights

Williams echoed his coach’s comments in our post game interview: “I felt like we held our own in the first half. In the second half they just got more aggressive. That’s the difference between division 1 and division 2. Size is a big factor.”

Metress and Williams both pointed towards Friday’s home game against Georgia Southern, a special game that will raise money for hurricane relief, as another opportunity to learn before the regular season starts.

“I told them it’s a three part exam. Tonight’s the first part. Tomorrow against Georgia Southern is the second part. And Sunday’s scrimmage on the road is the final part,” coach Metress said.

Georgia Southern’s visit will mark the first time a Division 1 team has played at Christenberry Fieldhouse, Augusta’s home, since the Jaguars made the move from Division 1 to Division 2 over 25 years ago.

Who's ready to #StormTheBerry this Friday! Jags host Georgia Southern! @AUG_MBB https://t.co/NAaGOpBS75 pic.twitter.com/RB0szHu4eM

— AugustaJags (@AugustaJags) November 1, 2017

Also noteworthy will be the return to the Augusta area of junior Tookie Brown, Georgia Southern’s all conference guard who famously knocked out Laney High from the semifinals of the state playoffs in 2015 while playing for Morgan County HS. Brown scored 32 points in the second half of that game. He scored over 3,000 points in his four years of high school.

Augusta at Clemson - Game of the Day Preview

Junior Tyvez Monroe is Augusta's leading returning scorer and assist man.

For live video highlights and news updates from today's AugBball Game of the Day between Augusta University and Clemson, follow @AugBball on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

The Jaguars will tip off the 2017-18 season tonight with an exhibition game at Clemson (7:00 P.M.) before returning home Friday to host Georgia Southern in a special "hurricane relief game" at Christenberry Fieldhouse. The Jags were recently picked to finish second in the Peach Belt Conference preseason coaches poll. Clemson was tabbed as the 13th (of 15) best team in the mighty Atlantic Coast Conference at its recent media day gathering.

Even after the graduation of the school's and the conference's all time leading scorer Keshun Sherrill, Augusta returns a wealth of experience and talent. Four of the team's top 5 scorers from last season are now juniors or seniors. Senior Tamyrik Fields told me in an interview before this season's first practice that he and his teammates are eager to prove they can build on the team's regular season Peach Belt Conference championship from a year ago: "We want to show everybody that we have scorers on our team. We have people that can go get a bucket. Who can go get stops," said Fields.

Meet Augusta's returning leaders:

Jasmine Robinson hit the ground running at Troy and other news and notes from Wednesday's exhibition games

Jasmine Robinson - Freshman, Troy

Richmond graduate Jasmine Robinson, last season's Augusta Chronicle Player of the Year, wasted no time making an impact at Troy University. The freshman scored 11 points, dished 9 assists, and grabbed 6 rebounds in the Lady Trojans' 79-54 exhibition game win over Auburn University at Montgomery Wednesday. Here are clips of her playing and speaking to the media afterwards:



Troy earned a spot in last season's NCAA tournament by winning the Sun Belt Conference championship. I dare say that in the past 10 years or so no area player, female or male, has stepped onto campus and started right away for a team that was at the top of its conference. If I am right, this will not be the only time Jasmine has done something I've never seen. I've also never seen a high school girl score 50 points in a game, like she did last season against Hephzibah.

Robinson averaged 27 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals last season at Richmond, which reached the second round of the state tournament.

Troy opens its regular season Friday, November 10, at home against Stillman.

Other news:

In an exhibition game, the Peach Belt Conference's Georgia Southwestern defeated Troy's men's team, which like the women won the Sun Belt Conference championship last season. RJ Sessions made 8 threes and scored 30 points to lead the Hurricanes to a surprising 88-87 road win.

Another Sun Belt team, Georgia Southern, fared much better against the Peach Belt's Georgia College. The Eagles topped the Bobcats 92-59. Ike Smith scored 23 points to lead the way.

Georgia Southern will visit Augusta University, also from the Peach Belt, Friday in Augusta.

Augusta legends Ahmed Hill and Frank Booker meet again Sunday in the AugBball Game of the Day

Frank Booker finishes Monday against Erskine. Source 

Here is this week's schedule for the AugBball Game of the Day:

Thur, Nov 2 - 7:00 PM

Augusta at Clemson

- Link to preview

Friday, Nov 3 - 7:00 PM

Georgia Southern at Augusta - Special Hurricane Relief Game

- Link to preview

Sunday, Nov 5 - 2:00 P.M.

Virginia Tech at South Carolina - Special Hurricane Relief Game

Follow @AugBball on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for live highlights and updates from the AugBball Game of the Day!

South Carolina warmed up for Sunday's hurricane relief game showdown against Virginia Tech Monday by beating Erskine 85-44 in the Gamecocks' exhibition game opener. Westside High School graduate Frank Booker scored 11 points, making 4 of 6 shots from the field, including his first three attempts, all from deep.

Booker is featured in these game highlights:



And Frank and Chris Silva, who starred on last season's Final 4 team, spoke to the media after the game. Starting at 2:55, Frank talks about his "long" road from Oklahoma to Florida Atlantic and now to South Carolina. Then he shows off his basketball IQ, describing South Carolina's defensive excellence during last year's NCAA tournament run:



SEC media members chose South Carolina to finish 11th in a 14 team conference. The Gamecocks lost two NBA players from last season's Final 4 team, but the fall off won't be as severe as the media poll predicts. The defensive excellence we saw last March will make South Carolina a good team that finishes in the top half of the conference and reaches the NCAA tournament. That qualifies as a bold prediction.

The Hokies enter the season with NCAA tournament expectations

The ACC media members were more kind to Virginia Tech, picking the Hokies 7th in a 15 team, star studded league. The Hokies were bounced by Wisconsin in the 2017 NCAA tournament after reaching the big dance for the first time in 10 seasons. Aquinas graduate Ahmed Hill joins Kris Clarke, who missed last season's final 9 games after suffering a knee injury, as Tech's returning leading scorers at 11.4 points per game. Hill, a 6'4" junior, made 45% of his field goals and 37% of his threes.

Augusta Basketball Reunion

The last time I saw Booker and Hill go at it in an official game was five-and-a-half years ago when Westside defeated Aquinas in one of the best high school games AugBball has ever featured:

Burke County 27, Thomson 24 - Full Highlights

The Bear Den was filled with thousands of screaming fans Friday.

Burke County's Damari Kelly scored two second half touchdowns to turn a 3 point deficit into a 10 point advantage, and the Bears defeated Thomson 27-24 at home to clinch a class AAAA region 3 title and a top seed in the coming state playoffs. Burke County entered the game ranked #5 in the state and will enter the final week of the season with an even higher spot after topping the #2 ranked Bulldogs in front of a crowd of more than 4,000 fans.

With Burke County trailing 17-14 in the third quarter, Kelly scrambled for a first down on 4th and 6 inside Thomson's 10 yard line. The lighting quick quarterback seemed to be stuffed for a loss, but Kelly extended the play and converted the first down before running the go ahead touchdown on the next play. On the following series, senior Jaylen Odom intercepted a Mills Ridings pass in Bear territory, running it back to midfield and setting up another Burke County scoring drive that Kelly again capped with a short rushing touchdown to give the Bears a 27-17 lead.

Odom's interception was one of several huge plays the senior made. After the game he wore a wrestling championship belt on his shoulder and gripped a baseball bat. Odom explained in this post game interview that the belt was for the interception and the bat was for his success running the ball, including a second quarter touchdown that tied the game at 7.



Burke County coach Eric Parker won his 100th game along with defeating the state's #2 ranked team and clinching a region championship. Burke County (8-0, 4-0) hosts Hephzibah Friday in the regular season finale. Thomson (7-1, 3-1) hosts Richmond.