Greenwood, S.C. – The Augusta University Men's Basketball team lost a close contest to the Lander Bearcats 88-82. The Jags fall to 8-4 on the season with a 3-1 conference record. Lander improves to 9-3 and move to 4-0 in the Peach Belt.
Augusta struggled early on in the game, as the Bearcats led the Jags 43-36 in the first half. The score was tied at 7-7 just over three minutes in, that's when Lander turned it up a bit, going on a short 6-2 run to take a lead that they would hold for the remainder of the half.
The Jags fought back though in the second half pulling within one score late in the game. But Lander would hit their threes to stay just far enough ahead to keep the Jags out of it. Despite the Jaguars outscoring their opponent 46-45 in the half, the Bearcats came away with the win.
For the game, the Jags were 28-of-55 (51.9%) from the field, knocking down 10 threes, and shooting 16-of-26 (61.5%) from the charity stripe.
Rafael Monteiro was the top scorer for Augusta, knocking in 22 points while going seven-for-12 from the field and putting in eight free throws on nine tries. Troy Cracknell followed Monteiro on the scoresheet with 19 points, including a five-for-six night from downtown.
Tyshaun Crawford picked up another double-double, nabbing 13 rebounds to go with 13 points.
The Jags are back in action when they face Young Harris on the road, January 11th at 3:30 p.m.