COLUMBUS, Ga - The No. 8 Augusta University Men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the 2021-22 season 73-62 against the Columbus State Cougars. Augusta is now 9-1, 0-1 in the PBC. Columbus State moves to 8-2, 1-1 in conference play.
 
Miguel Arnold scored 19 points while Troy Cracknell had 14. Center Tyshaun Crawford scored 9 points and to go along with his 10 rebounds for the night. .


After a slow offensive start by both teams, Columbus Stat broke open an 11-11 game by scoring the next eight points, including hitting two 3-pointers. 

After being down 36-16 with 4:48 left to play, AU would go on an 8-2 run before the final minute to close the gap to 28-24.CSU's Christian Chalmers hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Cougars a 31-24 halftime lead.


Both teams traded scores early in the second half. CSU led by a game-high 11 points with 16:11 left in the second. Shortly after, Augusta shooting took center stage, with Miguel Arnold going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc to fuel an 11-0 Jaguar run to tie the game at 43 with less than 14 minutes to play.


The Cougars had an answer though, hitting on three 3-pointers of their own to run off a 10-1 spurt to regain control of the game. 

AU cut the lead back to four on multiple occasions until a 3-pointer by Porter-Wilson at the 6:41 mark ended the momentum swing. The Jaguars would fall 73-62 on the road.

Augusta shot 40.7 percent (22-for-54) as a team, including going 8-for-23 (34.8%) from beyond the arc.
 
Augusta returns to action on New Year's Eve for another tough road contest against Emmanuel at 2:00pm. Live stats and video will be available at www.augustajgs.com

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