AUGUSTA, Ga- The Jaguar men's basketball team won a 84-63 contest against Paine College in its final bout before opening conference play. Ranked #8 in the county, AU is now 9-0 heading into its first Peach Belt Conference game against Columbus State on Monday Dec 20^th. Paine falls to 0-4 for the season.   

Augusta (9-0)
FG% 42.3
3PT% 27.3
FT% 78.9
 
Paine (0-4)
FG% 36.2
3PT% 35
FT% 75
 
Troy Cracknell and Tyshaun Crawford headed the offensive effort for AU. Cracknell carded double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. The graduate student was 6-of-19 from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. Crawford was 8-for-11 for 21 points. The junior pulled down 8 rebounds to compliment 5 blocks in the game.
 
 

Augusta won the rebounding battle 50-39. Both teams scored 12 point off turnovers. Augusta held a slight advantage in points in the paint, scoring 38 to Paine's 34.
 
Tyshaun Crawford provided an offensive spark to start the game, scoring 6 of the team's first 10 points. The Augusta lead was extended to 10 after Troy Cracknell was fouled on a three-point attempt and hitting all three free-throws.  An 8-0 run by the Lions brought Paine within 2 with 6:45 left to play in the first half. AU answered, leading 43-34 at halftime.

Augusta shot 43.8% in the second half and pushed the lead to as many as 21 points. The Jaguars never trailed in the contest and defeated in-town foe Paine 84-63.
 

The Jaguars return to the road Dec 20^th for their first conference game against the Columbus State Cougars. Live stats and video will be available on augustajags.com 
 
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