CHARLOTTE - A different team. A different
style. A different result.
A day after one of its highest-scoring games of the year, Augusta
State had its lowest-scoring game of the season. Second-seed
Winston-Salem State shut down the Jaguars offense and eliminated
No. 6 seed Augusta from postseason play with a 65-48 win in the
second round of the Division II Tournament at Brayboy
Gymnasium.
``I've played junior college basketball. I've played Division I
basketball at Illinois. I've played basketball at Augusta State. I
thought this right here was the best team I've ever played on,''
Jaguars senior center Festus Hawkins said. ``All the players like
each other. The coaches are in tune. It was a great
environment.''
It was a different environment on Friday. Blaring horns, booming
drums and thousands of Winston-Salem State fans welcomed the
Jaguars to the court. A neutral game suddenly turned into a
thunderous road contest.
The fact that the referees allowed a more physical style of play
didn't help Augusta's case.
``Last game against Catawba, the refs called everything,'' Jaguars
senior forward Reggie Rosier said. ``This game was a little more
physical, which I thought caught our team off guard. Our team's not
very physical, that's not our style of play.''
Winston-Salem State (25-4) dominated the Jaguars with its speed as
the Rams scored 38 points in the paint and 28 points off turnovers.
The Rams forced 23 Jaguars turnovers, out-rebounded Augusta 36-29
and took 29 more shots.
In the first half, Augusta (21-10) had minor problems with the
Rams' full-court pressure and led 15-11 on two Hawkins free throws
with 8:34 left before halftime.
Winston-Salem State tied the Jaguars twice and then took its first
lead of the game at 23-21 on a Corey Thompson bomb three minutes
before halftime. On a feed from Gary Boodnikoff, Hawkins responded
with a dunk.
But the Rams controlled the final three minutes of the first half,
went on a 9-0 run and took a 32-23 halftime lead. In that span,
Hawkins picked up his second foul, and a minute later, a clean
steal by Chris Harriman turned into a foul on the Australian
guard.
``We had turned the ball over too much, and they had run us out of
our offense, but I still thought we were playing well,'' Augusta
coach Gary Tuell said. ``I thought Chris had a pretty clean pick,
and I had a pretty good view of it. But some people didn't agree
with me.''
Seconds later, Thompson charged into Boodnikoff as he scored a
layup, and Boodnikoff was called for the foul. One official stalked
a livid Tuell even as the Augusta coach walked away from him. At
the end of the bench, Tuell kneeled, slammed his playbook down and
was assessed a technical.
Augusta had a chance to trim a seven-point deficit just before the
break. But T.J. Ott's three-point attempt sailed long. Kevin Henry
raced down the court and beat the buzzer with a fast-break layup.
In three minutes, the momentum swung 180 degrees.
``That last shot hurt us,'' Tuell said.
Five minutes into the second half, an Ott layup pulled the Jaguars
to 34-29. Kamal Oliver responded with a 3-pointer. Then Rosier made
one free throw to cut the lead to seven.
But Winston-Salem State took control as it reeled off 12 unanswered
points. Centellis Tucker drained back-to-back threes to cap the
Rams run. Augusta's season was over at 49-30 with 10:11
remaining.