BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- Augusta State overcame an eight-point deficit in the second half Sunday afternoon and rallied for a 63-57 non-conference victory over Coastal Georgia in Coffin Gym.
Freshman guard Devonte Thomas paced the Jaguars (2-1) with 17 points, including four 3-pointers. Junior forward Travis Keels had nine points off the bench and sophomore forward Harold Doby netted eight points and four rebounds. Freshman point guard D'Angelo Boyce dished out seven assists against just one turnover.
Mike Manning paced the Mariners (1-6) with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Marcus Morrison and Jared Paul booked 12 points each for Coastal Georgia, which was playing its home opener. The Mariners are in their first year of transition from NAIA to the NCAA's Division II.
ASU, which featured three freshmen in the starting lineup (Boyce, Thomas and forward Charles Robinson) led by as many as 14 (27-13) after a pair of Roman Hill free throws with 3:45 left in the opening half. The Jags shot 44.0 percent and led 29-19 at the break.
The Mariners came out firing in the second half, draining six treys. They built an eight-point lead after Manning's fourth 3-pointer of the half gave them a 45-37 advantage with 13 minutes remaining.
ASU battled back behind Keels and senior guard Tye Beal, who combined for all 15 of their points in the final 20 minutes. A dunk by Doby and two Beal layups pulled the Jags within 47-45. After the teams swapped layups, Doby took a perfect alley-oop feed from Armstrong and flushed it to knot the game at 50-all.
CCGA countered with a layup before Keels drilled a jumper off a feed from Doby for a 52-all tie. After a Mariner free throw, Keels connected on a 15-footer and Beal got inside for two straight driving layups for a 58-55 ASU lead with 1:43 left. Armstrong hit four free throws in the final 90 seconds to seal the victory.
ASU shot 52.0 percent in the second half and limited Coastal Georgia to just nine points over the final 10:05 of the game.
CCGA won the rebounding battle 41-35, while the Jags committed just eight turnovers.
ASU travels to Valdosta State on Wednesday, Nov. 30 for a 7:30 p.m., non-conference matchup.
