YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. |  Miguel Arnold scored 22 points to lead Augusta University to an 81-70 Peach Belt Conference men's basketball victory over Young Harris College Monday (Dec. 17) afternoon at the YHC Basketball Arena.

The Mountain Lions welcomed 560 students from Towns County, Hayesville and Ranger middle schools as part of the annual Education Day contest.

The Jaguars improved to 6-2 overall and to 2-0 in the Peach Belt, while the Mountain  Lions slipped to 3-6 and 1-2. Young Harris wraps up its pre-holiday schedule Wednesday (Dec. 19) with a 3:30 p.m. PBC home contest against Flagler College.

Augusta jumped out to a 21-8 lead after Deane Williams hit a free throw with 12:07 left before Young Harris used a 15-5 run of its own to pull within three points (26-23) on a jumper in the paint by Alphonso Willis with 7:35 remaining. A Justin Jones three-pointer and a Cheick Kone layup tied the game at 28 two minutes later. YHC took its first lead at 30-28 after J.J. Flores sank two free throws with 4:39 to go.

Young Harris took its largest lead at 33-30 after an old-fashioned three-point play from Jones with 3:37 left. Augusta took a 39-38 lead at the intermission after Rafael Monteiro's layup right before the half.

Augusta, which scored 20 points off 13 second half turnovers by YHC, took control of the game midway through the second half as they used a 16-7 run to open up a 69-55 lead after a Monteiro layup with 5:07 to play.  The closest the Mountain Lions would get the rest of the way was 11 points.

Monteiro added 17 points and eight rebounds for Augusta, while Troy Cracknell added 15 points. Tyvez Monroe contributed 10 points, while Tyree Myers dished out eight assists.

Willis paced the Mountain Lions with 17 points, while Jones added 13 points. Brian Harper added 10 points and six assists, while Nicksen Blanc posted seven rebounds.