Augusta, Ga.----The GRU Augusta Jaguars raced out to a 50-26 halftime lead Wednesday afternoon en route to an 83-70 victory over visiting Wingate University in NCAA Division II men's basketball action. The Jaguars improve to 9-2 overall, while the Bulldogs fall to 7-4 on the season.
Keshun Sherrill led the Jaguars with 18 points, adding four assists while
Devonte Thomas had 16 points and six rebounds.
Henry McCarthy contributed 13 points, while
D'Angelo Boyce had 11 points, hitting three-of-three shots from beyond the arc.
Senior guard
Ryan Daye (Burlington, N.C.) had 14 points to lead the Wingate attack. The preseason All-SAC selection scored his 1,000th career point on Wednesday. Sophomore forward
Isiah Cureton (Waxhaw, N.C.) added 11 points and four rebounds, while redshirt sophomore forward
Terrill Hilliard (Rocky Mount, N.C.) had 10 points. Freshman guard
Zeriq Lolar (Orlando, Fla.) contributed nine points, while sophomore forward
Josh Dominguez (Matthews, N.C.) had eight points for the Bulldogs.
Sherrill scored the first eight points of the game, giving GRU an 8-0 lead two minutes into the opening half. A jumper and triple from Daye cut the lead to one, but layup from
Devon Wright-Nelson pushed the lead back to five at the 13:22 mark. A Dominguez bucket with 11 minutes to go made it 18-17, but the Jaguars scored the next seven points, taking a 25-17 lead on a Boyce triple.
A pair of free throws from Lolar trimmed the led to four with eight minutes to go, but GRU Augusta answered with a 22-2 run to close the first half.
Tamyrik Fields started the spurt with back-to-back buckets, while Sherrill capped the opening half with two buckets and a free throw, giving the Jaguars a 24-point halftime advantage.
A Boyce triple gave GRU Augusta a 60-33 lead four minutes into the second half. Wingate used a 9-0 run to trim the lead to 16 at the 7:11 mark, with sophomore forward
Dustin Dodd (Concord, N.C.) capping the spurt with a triple. A Daye three and Cureton tip-in made it 77-64 with 2:49 remaining. Sophomore center
Keith Griffin (Concord, N.C.) followed with a jumper to cut the lead to 11 with 1:30 to go. The Bulldogs would get no closer in the final 90 seconds.
Augusta shot 51.9 percent from the field, hitting nine-of-13 shots from three-point range (69.2 percent). The Jaguars hit eight-of-10 threes in the first half (80 percent). Wingate shot 38.6 percent from the field, knocking down eight-of-26 shots from beyond the arc (30.8 percent). The Jaguars held a 34-31 rebounding edge, while Wingate held a 15-11 advantage in second chance points. GRU Augusta converted 13 Bulldog turnovers into 22 points.
Wingate is back in action Saturday, returning to conference play at Carson-Newman at 4 p.m.
