AUGUSTA, Ga. – Top-seeded Augusta cruised past No. 8 Belmont Abbey Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, winning by a score of 106-77.

The Jaguars improve to 29-3 on the season while the Crusaders end their slate with a 22-10 record.

Augusta jumped on the visitors early and never looked back. The Jaguars held a 54-32 lead at the break and were not challenged the rest of the way.

Miguel Arnold found Ja'Queze Kirby for a three-ball at the 15:33 mark, giving the home team a 15-5 lead. A pair of free throws from Darren Lucas-White pushed the margin to 13, 20-7. Back-to-back three-point shots from Arnold and Troy Cracknell extended the advantage to 35-16 with 6:37 to play in the half. Lucas-White found Arnold for a 20-point edge at the 6:05 mark. Tyshaun Crawford connected with Arnold for a three-point bucket just before intermission for the 22-point working margin.

The closest Belmont Abbey would get in the second half was at 66-46 with 14:27 to play.

The Jaguars were led by Kirby's game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Crawford poured in 21 points in 23 minutes of work. Arnold and Tyree Myers added 19 points and 10 points, respectively. Myers dished out a game-best four assists while Lucas-White registered three steals. Crawford swatted a game-high three shots. 

Belmont Abbey was led by Chandler Baker and Sean Halloran. Each student-athlete netted 12 points. LJ McCoy and Bosko Bojovic added 11 points and 10 points, respectively. Bojovic snared a team-best eight rebounds. Quest Aldridge and KJ Garrett dished out four assists apiece.

For the game, Augusta hit 34-of-61 from the floor (55.7 percent), including a sizzling 13-of-21 from downtown (61.9 percent). The Jaguars canned 25-of-30 from the charity stripe (83.3 percent).

Belmont Abbey hit 27-of-66 from the field (40.9 percent), including eight-of-27 from deep (29.6 percent). The team connected on 15-of-21 from the foul line (71.4 percent).

The Crusaders held a 39-32 edge on the glass, including a 15-6 margin on the offensive end. The Jaguars recorded 17 points off turnovers compared to just three by Belmont Abbey.

Augusta led for all but 20 seconds of the game.

The Jaguars return to action tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., against either No. 4 UNC Pembroke or No. 5 Flagler.