ST. AUGUSTINE – The Flagler College defense limited Augusta University to 36.1 percent shooting from the field, but the Jaguars were able to knock down 25-of-29 free throw attempts to earn a hard-fought 72-70 victory over the Saints in a Peach Belt Conference men's basketball game Wednesday night at Flagler Gymnasium.
Augusta improved to 15-5 overall and 11-3 in the Peach Belt. Flagler dropped to 7-13 overall and 4-10 in conference play.
The Saints held a 10-point lead (59-49) after a pair of free throws by
Vaughn McCall with 8:53 left to go in the game.
A Tyvez Monroe layup sparked a 10-0 run by Augusta. Deane Williams put the exclamation point on the run with a dunk.
But Saints were not fazed. After a free throw,
Gedi Juozapaitis hit a transition three-pointer to give Flagler a 63-59 advantage with 5:37 left.
From there, Augusta scored the next six-of-seven points, with four of those coming from the free throw line, over the next 1:26. Williams sank a pair of free throws with 3:49 left to give the Jaguars the lead for good (65-64).
Later, a
Logan Swackhammer trey with 1:59 left trimmed the deficit to one (68-67), but Augusta's Tyree Myers hit a fall away six-foot jumper with one minute left to play.
Williams scored 10-of-his-14 points in the second half and he added seven rebounds. Monroe added 13 points, six rebounds, and four steals while Rafael Monteiro tacked on 13 points and eight rebounds. Aaron Byrd came off the bench to tally 10 points.
The Jaguars were held to 27.6 percent (8-29) shooting in the first half and trailed the Saints 34-29 at the half. Augusta made 87.9 percent (14-16) of its free throws in the second half.
McCall and
Damerit Brown each scored 15 points for Flagler. Juozapaitis recorded his first double-double in nearly one month with 13 points and he grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Swackhammer added 12 points.
Flagler's six 3-pointers were its lowest tally of the season and tied the amount against Paine College (Dec. 5).
Up next for Flagler is at Lander University on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Greenwood, South Carolina.
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