Men’s Basketball Recap
Since I last wrote about the Jaguars Basketball team they have played four games, so I knew I thought I had better write a recap for this stretch of games.
On Sunday December 7th, the Jaguars hosted Houston Baptist at the Mitchell Center and came away with a blow-out win 93-63 to push their winning streak to four games since the Arkansas lass back just before Thanksgiving. The team was led by Domonic Tilford who scored 19 points and was closely followed by Charles Tabet with 17. DeAndre Coleman lead the team with 12 rebounds, 9 of them were defensive. The team as a whole out rebounded Houston Baptist 49-27 for the game, and out shot them 51% to 37% from the floor, 47% to 41% from 3-point range and 80% to 50% from the free-throw line.
On December 13th, the Jaguars traveled to Starkville, MS to take on the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. The Jags trailed the entire first half but Ronald Douglas and Brandon Davis gave the Jags the lead in the first minute of the second half. The lead would change hands a couple times until the Jags had their last lead of the game at 38-37 before the Bulldogs pulled away with a 15-0 run in the next 3:30 of game time.
Brandon Davis lead the scoring with 19 on 7-19 shooting and falling one rebound shy of a double-double. The next leading scorer would Domonic Tilford with 11 on 4-11 shooting, 3-6 from 3-point range. Mississippi State was led by Jarvis Vardado with 21 on 9-11 shooting in 26 minutes of play. The Jags were out shot in two of the three categories: 36%-54% from the floor and 62%-71% from the free throw line. But they did manage to out shoot the Bulldogs from 3-point range 36%-29%. Also the Jags out rebounded the Bulldogs for the game 39 to 33.
The Jags opened the Sun Belt Conference season hosting Western Kentucky at the Mitchell Center. Domonic Tilford had one of the best nights of his career but could not lift the Jags to a victory over the Hilltoppers in a 66-69 loss. Tilford scored 30 points on 9-16 shooting, going 7-11 from beyond the arc and a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe. LaShun Watson and DeAndre Coleman both scored 10 points each. Brandon Davis came down with 13 rebounds with 9 of them being defensive.
The Hilltoppers were lead by A.J. Slaughter who scored 21 points on 8-19 shoting and going 2-5 from 3-point range. Orlando Mendez-Valdez scored 20 going 7-11 from the floor and 4-8 from 3-point range. Two other Hilltoppers scored in double digits with Sergio Kerusch earning a double-double with 10 points and 16 rebounds (13 of them defensive).
The lead changed 12 times over the course of the game, the last with just over seven minutes to go in the game. The Hilltoppers pushed out to the largest lead of the game, 67-61 with just over two minutes left in the game. Domonic Tilford hit a three with from the top of the key with 19 seconds to go to bring the Jags within one point. A.J. Slaugter then ended the scoring with two free throws just two seconds later.
The Jaguars were out-shot in all three categories: Field Goals 44%-48%, 3-point Field Goals 40%-44% and Free Throws 57%-89%. But just like the previous game, the Jags out rebounded the opposition 35-31.
Last night, December 20th, the Jaguars rebounded with 62-57 win over Florida International to even their mark in the Sun Belt Conference at 1-1 and snap a two game losing streak. Tilford followed up the 30 point effort against WKU with a 23 point game against FIU shooting 7-13 from the field and going 2-4 from 3-point range. No other Jaguars scored in double digits. The Jags led in two of the three shooting categories, Field Goals 42%-36% and Free Throw 70%-58%, but FIU out-shot the Jags from outside the arch 53%-50%. Also, FIU out rebounded the Jags 37-34.
USA will have an eight day holiday break for the Christmas Holiday but will return to the Mitchell Center with on December 28th to take on the Spring Hill Badgers with a 2:05pm Sunday afternoon tipoff.
Go Jags!