Eagles Win on Road at UNC Greensboro

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Tyler Troupe (Gallatin, TN/Iowa Western CC) and Ben Drayton III (St. Mary’s/Camden County) both scored career-highs leading Georgia Southern to a 72-63 Southern Conference men’s basketball win Thursday night (Jan. 15). The Eagles improved to 5-8 overall and 3-2 in the SoCon.

Troupe scored 23 points (16 in the second half) and Drayton added 21 (12 in the first half coming on four 3-point baskets) as the duo helped fend off a late Spartan charge.

Troupe scored nine straight points early in the second half - surpassing his first half total of seven - to help tie the score at 38-all.

Down 40-38, the Eagles went on a 19-4 run over the next six minutes. Antoine Johnson (Atlanta/Westlake) scored four straight, including a basket in which he was fouled. The junior guard missed the free throw but Troupe was right there for a dunk on the putback.

UNCG cut the deficit to four points with two minutes left but that would be the closest. Troupe hit a key 3-pointer with 1:42 remaining to virtually seal the win. Ben Stywall hit 1-of-2 free throws, cutting the lead to six, but Julian Allen (Waterbury, CT/Garden City CC) hit a fadeaway jumper with 38 seconds left to make it an eight-point lead.

Head coach Jeff Price attributed the second half turnaround to his team’s defensive pressure.

“I thought our press really created tempo and made the game faster. We didn’t score or shoot well in the first half. In the second half we did a good job upping the tempo and getting some easy shots,” said Price.

The Eagles fell behind 17-10 following the 12-minute media timeout when Stywall hit two free throws. However, a pair of 3-pointers from Drayton and another from Anthony Marshall (Lake Worth, FL/Lake Worth) keyed the Eagles’ 10-0 run.

Drayton hit his fourth '3’ of the half to break a 22-all tie. That 3-pointer doubled his previous single-game high. The Eagle defense held UNCG without a field goal for nearly seven minutes late in the first half, and the only points came on four free throws. Montel Smith’s jumper with under a minute left in the half gave the Spartans a 29-27 lead, one they would take into the locker room.

The Spartans held the edge at the free throw line in the first half, 7-of-12 compared to Johnson’s 1-of-2 which was it for GS. Despite getting out-rebounded 26-18 and shooting just 28.6 percent from the field, the Eagles were down only two as UNCG hit 9-of-25 (36 percent) from the field. Georgia Southern forced six turnovers and committed just two.

Troupe hit three 3-pointers and grabbed eight rebounds totaling his game-high 23 points. His previous high was 21 points against King in December 2006 as a member at Chattanooga. Drayton finished 8-of-13 from the field and dished out five assists to just one turnover in a season-high 35 minutes.

“With Antonio (Hanson) and Julian (Allen) not playing as well it was good to see two other guys like Tyler and Ben. I thought they played like veteran players,” said Price.

Johnson scored a season-high 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Overall the Eagles shot 43.3 percent from the field compared to 40 percent for the Spartans (2-12, 1-4). UNCG did win the battle of the boards by two (40-38) but Georgia Southern forced twice as many turnovers (16-8). No Eagle had more than two turnovers in the game.

Stywall turned in a double-double, 14 points/13 rebounds. Mikko Koivisto and Landon Clement added 11 points each.

Category: Men's Basketball

Published on Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:04