Men's Basketball Hits the Road for Two Straight
1/28/2009 5:28:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. ? The Georgia Southern Men’s Basketball team hits the road again for two straight against the Southern Conference North Division. The Eagles travel to Samford on Thursday night (Jan. 29) for an 8 p.m. Eastern tip, then Saturday at Chattanooga for a 5 p.m. game to be televised live on SportSouth.
Chris Blair and Frank Kerns will call the action in Eagle 102.9 FM and via the internet at www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com with the pregame show starting 30 minutes prior to tip.
The Eagles not only are on a two-game winning streak, they have done so allowing a season-low point total on both occasions, a 74-53 win over Wofford followed by a 69-53 win last Saturday over Furman.
Julian Allen (Waterbury, Conn.) leads the squad in scoring (12.1 ppg), rebounding (7.0 rpg) and steals (25). The senior guard has scored in double-figures four straight games, including two times turning in a double-double. Allen is only player in the Southern Conference to rank among the ?Top 20’ in scoring (17th) and ?Top 10’ in both rebounds (9th) and steals (tied 7th).
Antonio Hanson (Ft. Worth, Texas) broke out of his shooting slump in a big way. Hanson had made only five of his last 26 from 3-point range heading into the Furman game, but the junior guard hit 5-of-10 from long distance in the win. He is third in the SoCon and 54th nationally hitting 2.8 3-pointers per game. Overall he is right behind Allen scoring 11.9 points per game.
In the previous meeting versus Samford this year in Hanner Fieldhouse (Dec. 12, 2008), the Eagles (7-10 overall, 5-4 SoCon) outscored the Bulldogs by 13 points in the second half to earn its first Southern Conference win of the season, 66-59. Allen led all scorers with 12 points. Sandy Perry (Perth Amboy, N.J.) grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) added 10 points off the bench.
Samford (10-9, 5-5) went 1-for-9 at the free throw line, with all eight misses coming in the final five minutes of the game in the December loss to the Eagles. It was the first meeting between the former TAAC rivals since 1992.
The Bulldogs enter the contest one-half game behind North-leading Chattanooga. Bryan Friday (12.3 ppg) and Trey Montgomery (10.9 ppg) lead the scoring attack. Despite ranking next to last in scoring (60 ppg), the Bulldogs are first in the league allowing just 62.3 points.
