Crosstown Showdown Round Two: Augusta and USC-Aiken battle on the hardwood

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Saturday was quite the day for the CSRA’s biggest college basketball rivalry between Augusta University and USC-Aiken.

Going into their second matchup of the season, AU’s women’s team sat at third place in the Peach Belt standings, but going back home, Celeste Stewart’s squad sits in second place.

The Jaguars were up eight at the half over the Pacers and then the door was blown off the hinges.

A big game highlighted by four, three-pointers by senior Nyaneit Puok gave AU a comfortable lead in the second half.

Stewart’s team rode that momentum until the final whistle and comfortably handed USC-Aiken its sixteenth loss of the season.

AU Women’s wins over USC-Aiken’s Women’s 69-44, completing the season sweep of the Pacers.

“It’s about our goals,” said Coach Stewart. “Our team set goals at the beginning of the year that we want to win a championship and to do that we have to keep pressing forward.”

AU Men’s will head to St. Augustine on Wednesday night to face the eighth place Flagler Saints.

USC-Aiken Men’s will head to Americus on Wednesday night to face the fourth place Georgia Southwestern Surge.

Following the women’s game, a matchup of two of the Peach Belt’s best men’s teams awaited.

Coach Mark Vanderslice’s team got the best of AU back in January by 35 points, and Saturday night it was almost the same story.

AU came into it holding second place in the conference, while USC-Aiken came in at fourth place.

Jalen McCoy (34) and Rhyjon Blackwell (24) led the Pacers in scoring Saturday night and four players for the Jaguars broke double-digits.

After being tied at the half 38-38, USC-Aiken came out firing in the second half, building as much as a 16-point lead at one point.

Coach Dip Metress’ team didn’t have an answer for the fast paced scoring from McCoy and Blackwell, but AU battled until the end.

USC-Aiken Men’s wins over AU Men’s 85-76, completing the season sweep of the Jaguars.

“We need to continue to make sure that our guys are engaged and don’t get caught up in the moment,” said Coach Vanderslice.

“We take this loss, we own it,” said Coach Metress. “We didn’t play well. Four of our starters didn’t play well, our bench didn’t play well, so with all that in mind we didn’t play well and we deserved to lose.”

AU Men’s will head to St. Augustine on Wednesday night to face the fifth place Flagler Saints.

USC-Aiken Men’s will head to Americus on Wednesday night to face the ninth place Georgia Southwestern Surge.

Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.