CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Gary Boodnikoff scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half as the Augusta State University men’s basketball team defeated Lenoir-Rhyne College 71-56 Saturday evening at Ovens Athletic Center in the third-place game of the Sodexho Marriott Classic.
The Jaguars improved to 4-2, while the Bears fell to 2-4. Lenoir-Rhyne opens its home portion of the schedule at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when they entertain Lander University at Shuford Gym.
Lenoir-Rhyne held a 30-28 lead at halftime, but the Jaguars managed to tie the game at 36 five minutes into the second half. The Jaguars used a 14-4 run over the next five minutes to push out to a 50-40 lead with 10:24 left on a jumper by Reggie Rosier. Boodnikoff had six of the team's points in the run on a pair of 3-point jumpers as the 35-second shot clock expired.
After the Jaguar run, the Bears really never recovered as the closest the would get would be six points (50-44) on a pair of free throws by freshman Randy Mauldin (Albemarle, N.C./Ablemarle HS) with 7:45 remaining. Augusta State quickly dashed any hopes of a Lenoir-Rhyne rally when they scored 8 unanswered points to push its lead to 14 points (58-44) on a jumper by Marcus Gradney with 4:53 left.
Senior forward Daniel Willis (Hickory, N.C./Hickory HS) led the Bears with 17 points and was named to the All-Tournament team for the second consecutive season. Sophomore forward Jake Orr (Blowing Rock, N.C./Watauga HS) came off the bench and scored a career-high 10 points for Lenoir-Rhyne.
Festus Hawkins and Russell Hinder each added 11 points for the Jaguars.