An Augusta University victory and the retiring of a jersey highlighted Thursday’s Richmond County Education Day basketball game at Christenberry Fieldhouse
The Jaguars pulled out the 91-60 victory over Paine College in a game filled with festivities, the biggest of which was the halftime ceremony to retire Garret Siler’s No. 21 jersey
“It’s exciting, an accomplishment finally done,” said Siler. “It’s bittersweet because a lot of my teammates are overseas. I’ve gotten a lot of texts and calls, and honestly instead of this being a personal achievement, I think this is a representation of great teammates pouring into me.”
It was a long time coming for the only Augusta player ever to make a National Basketball Association roster as he donned the Phoenix Suns’ jersey in the 2010-2011 season.
Siler, who played his high school ball at the Academy of Richmond County, played for the Jaguars from 2005-2009 and was a huge part of the Jaguars’ 2008 National Championship appearance. He scored 20 points in the national final.
The 7-foot-tall Siler scored a career 1,599 points for the Jaguars – good for 10th place on the all-time scoring list. He ranks 10th in rebounding with 79, and he blocked 250 shots.
His jersey will hang in the rafters forever as he becomes the fifth AU player to have his number retired.
The Education Day victory was the Jaguars’ fourth in a row. A loud and energetic crowd of approximately 2,000 Richmond County elementary schoolers watched a close first half, but then they saw AU pull away early in the second half.
Augusta struggled out of the gate, which may be attributed to some of the current players never having played in front of crowds this big, as Paine, mostly driving to the basket and tossing in four 3-pointers, led 27-21 through 15 minutes.
However, the Jaguars, despite playing without 6-foot-11-inch center Max Amadasun for a good portion of the first half after he picked up two quick fouls, found their stride and closed the half on a 15-5 run to give them a 36-32 halftime lead.
The second half went about as well as a half could go for Coach Dip Metress’s squad as the Jags outscored Paine 55-28 and held the Lions to just a 22% shooting clip in the final 20 minutes.
It felt like most of AU’s lead was built from the free-throw line until Amadasun put a stamp on the big lead with a slam dunk on a fast break to extend the lead to 65-44.
Augusta coasted from there to a stress-free victory, and Metress was able to put all 13 of his players into the game before the clock hit zero.
John St. Germain III was AU’s leading scorer with 19 points in the contest. The Charlottesville, Virginia, sophomore also totaled seven assists and his season high in rebounds with three.
“We have a lot to work on and a lot to practice and go over again, but we’re looking good lately,” said St. Germain. “The whole morale is better now.”
Junior forward Demitri Gardner followed him with 18 points, 16 coming in the first half of action.
Amadasun also scored in double digits with 16 points, grabbing nine rebounds as well.
The Dublin, Ireland, cybersecurity major has been the difference maker for the Jaguars this season, and after being in foul trouble early, he made his presence known in the second half.
The four straight wins in 10 days for Augusta comes on the heels of the Jaguar’s first 0-4 start in Metress’s 21 seasons at AU.
“After Fayetteville State, I sat down and listed six things we were doing badly,” Metress said. “We kinda tried to narrow those things down and get better at them, so it’s nice to get four wins and now exams start tomorrow.”
At the top of the list was foul shooting. Since that list was made, AU has converted 81 of 93 from the line, good for 87%. The Jaguars were 21 of 24 against Paine.
Kole Taylor led the Lions (2-2) with 17 points. Calvin Johnson added 12.
The Jaguars now will take a six-day hiatus for exams before they go on the road again to take on a veteran Emmanuel University team at 1 p.m. Dec. 12. The Jags split their two games with Emmanuel last season.
Justin Gray is a senior communication major at Augusta University, sports editor of the Bell Ringer student newspaper and the host of The Sports Squad podcast on Spotify.
