AUGUSTA, Ga. | Young Harris College led for the majority of the game, but Augusta University rallied late for a 78-69 Peach Belt Conference men's basketball victory Sunday (Dec. 17) afternoon at Christenberry Fieldhouse.
The Jaguars improved to 5-3 overall and to 2-0 in the Peach Belt, while the Mountain Lions fell to 2-7 and 1-2. Young Harris will journey to St. Augustine, Florida, Tuesday (Dec. 19) for its final game prior to the holiday break when the Mountain Lions face Flagler College in a 3 p.m. PBC contest.
The Mountain Lions started the game quickly, scoring 11 of the first 13 points to open up an 11-2 lead after a layup by
Corey Nelson that was set up by a
Ben Waterhouse steal with 16:52 to go. Young Harris expended its lead to as many as 13 points (30-17) on an
Antonio Wade three-pointer with 5:50 remaining in the first half.
Augusta got the YHC lead trimmed down to eight points (38-30) at the intermission and used a 12-4 run to start the second half to tie the game at 42 on a Tyvez Monroe three-pointer with 15:03 left. Over the next next eight minutes the game was tied five more teams and neither team held more than a three-point lead.
Young Harris took a 63-60 lead on a Nelson putback with 7:36 to play before the Jagars took the lead for good at 66-65 on a Tamyrik Fields layup less than two minutes later. That started a 12-1 run by Augusta that saw them open up a 76-67 lead on a Fields' dunk with 84 seconds left.
"We played very tough tonight," said Young Harris head coach
Pete Herrmann. "They got the 50-50 balls in the second half and I thought that was the key. We weren't able to get the rebound when we needed it and didn't run the ball in the second half. We didn't make the adjustments tonight.
"We got good efforts from Greg (Murpjy) and Zion (Williams) off the bench tonight," added Herrmann. "I think we can still be successful in this league, but we can't cough it under pressure and have to make our free throws (14-of-27)."
Nicksen Blanc led the Mountain Lions with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Nelson and Wade added 14 points each.
Fields led the Jaguars with 26 points and seven rebounds, while Deane Williams had 17 points and rebounds. Monroe posted 11 points and nine rebounds, while Mikkel Kolstad had 12 points.
