AUM spoils home hardwood debut of Bobcats

Published 12:17 pm Friday, November 15, 2024

Whether it was going from a whopping 14 offensive rebounds in the first half to only two in the second half, or being outscored in points off turnovers by a margin of 17, Georgia College & State University’s men’s basketball team faltered after a hot start Wednesday against visiting Auburn University-Montgomery.

Playing in The Centennial Center – complete with new video screens and sideline tables – for the first time in the 2024-25 season, the Bobcats of head coach Ryan Aquino dropped to 0-3 after the 84-76 loss to the AUM Warhawks. Georgia College’s men were ahead by 12 in the first half with all of that offensive board work, but as soon as production of those rebounds slowed, AUM was back in the game and led 38-36 at halftime.

Through simple execution, the Warhawks scored as often as they needed to (19-for-36 shooting for 52.8%) in the second half to hold off any semblance of a Bobcat comeback.

AUM also scored 20 points off the 15 Georgia College turnovers and had a 38-15 advantage in points from bench players. Free-throw shooting was an interesting stat Wednesday with a combined 34 shots taken at the line in the first half (split up 18 for AUM and 16 for GCSU). That went down to 19 attempts total in the second half with the Bobcats taking 12.

Bobcat Zyair Greene led all scorers in the game with 28 points. He was 5-for-6 in 3-pointers. AUM had four players in double figures, and reserve Chappell Witney from Kentucky led the winners with 22 points. GCSU wound up outrebounding the Warhawks 46 to 39, but AUM had 11 steals to only four for the home team.

Georgia College had the 12-point lead of 15-3 with the likes of Tony Caprio and Dallas Clayton crashing the offensive glass and Greene knocking down three 3-pointers. Caprio also scored a pair of baskets, and life was good for the Bobcats for about seven game minutes.

The Warhawks slowly worked their way back into contention, and down 20-13 they scored five in a row. There was Aiden Kudlas’ hustle block after a nifty AUM steal, but it was still a 20-18 game when reserve Luke Krawczyk put back two of the 17 Bobcat second-chance points at 8:35. Almost two minutes later, backup freshman point guard Khalil Green nailed a 3 getting the lead to seven, 25-18.

But in just about a minute’s time – the clock stopping often for foul shooting – the Warhawks scored eight straight. With a 3-ball off a turnover, they led for the first time since 2-0 at 26-25.

There were 10 lead changes in the first half, most coming in the final five minutes and free-throws accounting for most of those. There was James Nichols III’s assist in transition to Caprio, but also AUM’s conversion of a bad turnover that, at 2:30, gave the Warhawks a lead – 35-34 – they would not surrender.

Clayton’s put-back came with 35 seconds on the clock, but with one more takeaway AUM was able to go into halftime with the two-point edge.

And the Warhawks opened the second half getting a three-point play from the offensive boards. Down by seven, GCSU’s first points were at 18:10 from Greene’s assist to Nichols III. AUM matched the Bobcats basket-for-basket, and from a put-back it was 53-44 at 14:45.

The Warhawks had seven second-chance points in the second half from seven offensive boards. That included a third-chance make getting the score to 62-49. The Bobcats had great scoring chances go to waste, like a steal from Nichols III and a great penetration dish off by Green. The biggest margin of the game, 14 points, came from a Bobcat turnover with under six minutes to go (76-62).

With Kudlas’ assist to Nichols III and Greene getting back into the 3-point groove, GCSU went on a 12-2 run. Krawczyk made a clutch steal under the basket, but Greene missed the ensuing 3-point try. AUM quickly tried its own 3 but missed, and Krawczyk was fouled on the rebound with 1:05 to play.

He brought the Bobcats within four, 80-76, but then the Warhawks made a great move to the basket with Arion Lewis finishing it off.

In other Bobcat action so far in 2024-25:

GAFFNEY, S.C. – Max Topham scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the second half to lead North Greenville University past Georgia College & State University 69-55 in a non-conference men’s basketball game Nov. 9 at the Timken Center on the campus of Limestone University.
North Greenville led by as many as 13 points (26-13) in the latter stages of the first half. The Bobcats put together a 17-2 run, including the final 14 points in a row as GCSU took a 30-28 lead on a Kudlas driving layup with four seconds left before halftime. Kudlas scored 11 of his 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Trailblazers used eight unanswered points to open up a 45-38 lead on a Michael Wilson Jr. put-back with 14:28 to play. Georgia College was able to close within three points (47-44) on an Oscar Lynch 3-pointer with 12:03 left, but that would be as close as the Bobcats, who shot 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from the field in the second half, would get the remainder of the game.
Lynch, who hit four three-pointers, led the Bobcats with 18 points.

Carl Cleveland scored 19 points to lead three Young Harris College men’s basketball players in double figures as Young Harris College defeated Georgia College & State University 60-52 in the season opener Nov. 8 afternoon at the Timken Center on the Limestone University campus.
GCSU struggled to score in the first half as they shot 13.3 percent (4-of-30) from the field and was 1-of-17 from long distance; however, they only trailed by nine points (21-12) at the half.
The Mountain Lions extended their lead to 16 points (46-30) with 7:30 remaining, but an 8-0 run by the Bobcats over the next 63 seconds cut the deficit in half to 46-38 after Ian Davis converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 6:27 to play. Davis scored six of his team-high 15 points during the run.
Young Harris pushed its lead to 12 points (52-40), before GCSU, which shot 48.0 percent (12-of-25) in the second half, scored the next seven points to trim the YHC lead to 52-47 after a Greene dunk with 2:20 remaining. However, that would be as close as the Bobcat would get.
Krawczyk was other Bobcat in double figures with 13 points. Davis also added three assists and three steals.