Men's Basketball Wraps Up Home Stand Saturday with Chattanooga
2/8/2008 5:01:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. --- The Eagles face a tough challenge Saturday in Chattanooga, who currently lead the Southern Conference North Division.
Georgia Southern (16-8, 9-5) will attempt to finish off their three-game home stand with a clean sweep. They have already dispatched UNC Greensboro (80-78) and Western Carolina (72-63).
UTC (15-9, 10-4) leads the North by a 1/2 game over Appalachian State. The Mountaineers are currently third overall in the league, 1/2 game over the Eagles.
“At this time of the year we feel like all of them are must-wins,” said head coach Jeff Price, ”because we're getting so close to finding out about seeding (at the conference tournament). So it's natural to say that all of your games are must-wins. I guess it has a little more impact because we're so close towards the top with Chattanooga. Our records are virtually even so and that makes it that much more important.”
The two teams met just nine days ago in Chattanooga, a 96-91 Mocs victory, a game in which the Eagles fell behind by 22 points in the second half. Chattanooga shot 57.1 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from 3-point land.
“We need to defend better than we did there,” Price said. “We need to do a better job handling their inside guys - their frontline is very good - and Kevin Bridgewaters really hurt us, went 12-for-12 from the line, got to the line a lot and had (24) points. They've got a lot of weapons. We're at the stage right now where we need to be more concerned about us than anybody we play and take care of the ball and defend better no matter who we're playing.”
The Eagles countered Bridgewaters' team-high 24 points with career-best totals from Louis Graham and Dwayne Foreman. Graham totaled 27 while Foreman had 23 and seven assists. Foreman shot 7-for-15 from 3-point land, both personal records, and the 15 attempts are tied for second best in school history.
Chattanooga is second in the conference in scoring (77.4 ppg) and third in field goal percentage (47.3%).
“They're big up front and they shoot the ball good enough. They're built like a high-major team because of their size. But I'd say our styles of play are very similar.”
Fans can watch, listen or follow the action via livestats at www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com.
