HICKORY, N.C. -- Junior reserve guard Daniel Dixon hit a 20-foot jumper with one second remaining Monday to give No. 7 Augusta State a 97-95 non-conference victory over Catawba on the first day of The Moretz Sports Classic in Shuford Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne.

With the victory, the Jaguars moved to 6-1 on the season and extended their best start since the 1976-77 season. The 14th-ranked Indians, who began the season with eight straight wins, dropped to 8-3 overall.

The win also improved ASU to 13-4 against nationally-ranked opponents under fifth-year head coach Dip Metress. In addition, the win avenged a 92-70 setback to Catawba in the same tourney during the 2006-07 campaign.

The Jaguars, who set a season high for points scored, were paced by senior center Garret Siler's season-high 28 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Ben Madgen booked 22 points and six assists, while junior forward Fred Brathwaite notched 15 points and five assists and sophomore guard Caleb Brown tallied 12 points. Junior forward Greg Hire matched Siler for the team lead in rebounds with 10.

Antonio Houston paced Catawba with 22 points, while Cliff Burns registered 19 and Donald Rutherford and Rob Fields chipped in 14 and 12 points, respectively, off the bench.

The Indians shot 58.7 percent from the field, including 64.5 percent in the second half. But the Jags outrebounded Catawba 41-26 and connected on 17-of-21 free throw attempts in the second half and 23-of-31 in the game.

In a contest that featured 15 ties and 14 lead changes, ASU grabbed a 73-72 advantage on a Siler free throw at the 7:08 mark. The Indians then surged ahead with a 6-0 spurt for a 78-73 lead with 5:56 to play and remained in front until a pair of free throws from Brathwaite tied the game at 84-all with 3:35 left.

ASU, which played without Siler for the last 5:25 after he fouled out, canned eight consecutive free throws -- the last two by Madgen with 2:27 to go -- to put the Jags in front 90-88. After Catawba's Burns knotted the game at 90-all with 2:09 remaining, Dixon drained a 3-pointer from the left wing to put ASU up 93-90 with 1:51 left.

Houston answered with a jumper for Catawba, but the Jags countered with a Brathwaite layup for a 95-92 ASU lead with 56 seconds left. Houston drained a pair of free throws with 48 seconds remaining, and after a Jaguar turnover, Burns hit one of two from the charity stripe to knot the game at 95-all with 34 seconds to play.

ASU held for the final shot, and Dixon drained a jumper from the right wing with one foot on the 3-point line with a second left.