Men’s Basketball Falls to The Citadel, 70-55

VIDEO: Post-game interview with Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young

BOX SCORE (PDF)

STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern’s two-game Men’s Basketball winning streak came to an end as the Eagles fell to The Citadel 70-55 at Hanner Fieldhouse on Saturday night. The Citadel shot a season-best 60% from the field while the Eagles struggled from the field, making 20-of-56 shots from the field.

“We are very disappointed that we let one get away tonight,” said Head Coach Charlton “C.Y.” Young. “We’ve got a to give a lot of credit to The Citadel, they did a great job tonight. They made shots and when they made shots they started to get confidence. When we missed shots that we are used to making, we started to panic a little.”

C.J. Reed led the Eagles for the third-straight night with 13 points and three assists. Tre Bussey had 12 points while making three baskets from downtown. Eric Ferguson finished two rebounds shy of a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Citadel was led by 21 points from Matt Van Scyoc as the freshman made 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. Mike Groselle scored 15 with eight rebounds while Marshall Harris III had 11 points with six assists.

Georgia Southern gathered 16 offensive rebounds and at one point in the first half had pulled down half of their misses as offensive rebounds. Overall The Citadel took a 29-28 advantage on the glass. The Bulldogs, however, were guilty of 15 turnovers on the night.

The Eagles trailed by nine points at the halftime break thanks to a 10-3 Citadel run in the final 2:30 of the first half. A three-pointer by Miller just before the horn capped the opening period which saw the Bulldogs shoot 44% from downtown and 58% overall. The Eagles shot just 35% from the field with a 13% mark from the bonusphere.

The Citadel strung the lead out to 14 points with 11:23 remaining. A three-pointer by Reed a minute later cut the lead back to 11 points. The teams traded three-pointers after a timeout, but five-straight Citadel points gave the Bulldogs a 55-39 lead with 8:41 left.

Ultimately the Bulldogs would score on seven-straight trips down the floor between the 12 and 8-minute media timeouts in which the Bulldogs out-scored the Eagles 16-10. Citadel’s largest lead would come at 7:25 when the Bulldogs led by 18 points.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Ferguson and Bussey with 5:36 and 4:48 remaining cut the lead back to 11 entering the game’s final four minutes, but a Bulldog three-pointer at 3:58 quieted the Hanner faithful, pushing the lead to 64-50.

The Eagles, however, could not make a late run and suffered the 70-55 defeat to snap a two-game winning streak.

The Citadel improved on a hot-shooting first half to go 13-for-21 (62%) in the second half from the field and finish the night at 60%. From downtown the Bulldogs went 5-of-8 in the second half to shoot 53% from beyond the arc. Georgia Southern shot 36% from the field and 26% from downtown.

A season-high 2231 fans were in attendance in Hanner Fieldhouse as the Eagles played their final game at home in the month of January.

Georgia Southern follows Saturday’s game with three-straight road games to close out January. The Eagles are at Appalachian State on January 24th before facing Western Carolina on January 26th.

“We’re going to handle the loss and learn from it,” said Young. “The Appalachian State game is our focus now and finding ways to improve on our play tonight.”

The first episode of the Inside Georgia Southern Basketball TV Show airs on Monday night on Savannah’s FOX 28 WTGS at 6 p.m. Head Coach Charlton “C.Y.” Young will talks basketball with the Voice of the Eagles Chris Blair and recaps the North Carolina A&T, Wofford and Davidson games.

The Inside Georgia Southern Basketball Radio Show gets underway this Tuesday at 7 p.m. from Loco’s Grill & Pub in Statesboro. The show can be heard live across the Georgia Southern Radio Network and online at GSEagles.com.

Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.

Category: Men's Basketball

Published on Saturday, 19 January 2013 22:04