Men's Basketball Dominates Second Half to Defeat Samford
12/6/2008 5:07:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. --- The Georgia Southern men's basketball team outscored Samford 38-25 in the second half to earn its first Southern Conference win of the season, a 66-59 decision Saturday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles even their record overall at 3-3 and stand at 1-0 in the league. The Bulldogs drop to 3-3 and 0-1.
“Overall I thought we did a nice job of handling the motion part of their offense,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “They got maybe four or five back-cuts all game, and against them that's pretty good. They're tough to guard ? I knew it would be a tough 40 minutes and you just don't blow them out. A seven-point win against them is like a 15-point win against a normal team.”
Samford broke open a 40-40 game with an 8-0 run but Georgia Southern answered with 11 unanswered points, beginning with a jumper from junior Antonio Hanson (Fort Worth, Texas) at the 11:16 mark. The Eagles' rally extended to an 18-2 spurt, capped off by a steal-and-dunk combo from sophomore Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) with just over 3 ½ minutes to play.
“The last 10 minutes of the game we got really comfortable with what we were doing and got a lot more confident in how we were defending them and attacking their zone,” said Price. “I thought it was really evident the last eight-to-10 minutes of the game we were a lot more comfortable with what was going on.”
Two 3-pointers from Hanson on back-to-back possessions broke a 48-48 deadlock and gave GSU the lead for the last time. He scored all eight of his points in the second half.
“His points were very timely,” said Price. “He made some big shots when we had to have them.”
The Bulldogs went 0-for-8 from the charity stripe in the second half. All eight attempts came in the final 4:38 of the contest.
“They really helped us out,” said Price of Samford's woes at the line. “They missed a lot of free throws late in the game but that's part of the game ? you have to knock down your free throws. We've all been through that.”
Senior Julian Allen (Waterbury, Conn.) posted a team-high 12 points. The final two came on a thunderous dunk with seven seconds left. Johnson had 10 points and sophomore Willie Powers (Gainesville, Fla.) contributed nine and a game-high five assists.
Samford's Bryan Friday and Trey Montgomery shared game-high honors with 16 points each.
The Eagles return to action Friday when they travel to Des Moines, Iowa to take part in the Hy-Vee Classic, hosted by Drake. GSU faces the host Bulldogs at 8:30 p.m. EST.
The Eagles even their record overall at 3-3 and stand at 1-0 in the league. The Bulldogs drop to 3-3 and 0-1.
“Overall I thought we did a nice job of handling the motion part of their offense,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “They got maybe four or five back-cuts all game, and against them that's pretty good. They're tough to guard ? I knew it would be a tough 40 minutes and you just don't blow them out. A seven-point win against them is like a 15-point win against a normal team.”
Samford broke open a 40-40 game with an 8-0 run but Georgia Southern answered with 11 unanswered points, beginning with a jumper from junior Antonio Hanson (Fort Worth, Texas) at the 11:16 mark. The Eagles' rally extended to an 18-2 spurt, capped off by a steal-and-dunk combo from sophomore Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) with just over 3 ½ minutes to play.
“The last 10 minutes of the game we got really comfortable with what we were doing and got a lot more confident in how we were defending them and attacking their zone,” said Price. “I thought it was really evident the last eight-to-10 minutes of the game we were a lot more comfortable with what was going on.”
Two 3-pointers from Hanson on back-to-back possessions broke a 48-48 deadlock and gave GSU the lead for the last time. He scored all eight of his points in the second half.
“His points were very timely,” said Price. “He made some big shots when we had to have them.”
The Bulldogs went 0-for-8 from the charity stripe in the second half. All eight attempts came in the final 4:38 of the contest.
“They really helped us out,” said Price of Samford's woes at the line. “They missed a lot of free throws late in the game but that's part of the game ? you have to knock down your free throws. We've all been through that.”
Senior Julian Allen (Waterbury, Conn.) posted a team-high 12 points. The final two came on a thunderous dunk with seven seconds left. Johnson had 10 points and sophomore Willie Powers (Gainesville, Fla.) contributed nine and a game-high five assists.
Samford's Bryan Friday and Trey Montgomery shared game-high honors with 16 points each.
The Eagles return to action Friday when they travel to Des Moines, Iowa to take part in the Hy-Vee Classic, hosted by Drake. GSU faces the host Bulldogs at 8:30 p.m. EST.
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