Men's Basketball Part of SoCon Saturday on SportSouth
1/30/2009 5:29:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Georgia Southern looks to get back on the winning track playing at Chattanooga in a Southern Conference game Saturday (Jan. 31). Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be televised live on SportSouth.
Georgia Southern (7-11 overall, 5-5 SoCon) trails in the all-time series 26-15 and head coach Jeff Price is 8-9 all-time against the Mocs. Earlier this month the Eagles pulled out a 78-74 in Hanner Fieldhouse, erasing a nine-point deficit with six minutes remaining. Antonio Hanson (Fort Worth, TX) led all players with 22 points, hitting 6-of-12 from long distance. Trumaine Pearson (Stuart, FL) added 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Senior guard Julian Allen (Waterbury, CT) enters this week as the only player in the Southern Conference to rank among the ?Top 20' in scoring (11.7 ppg/17th) and ?Top 10' in rebounding (6.7 rpg/10th) and steals (1.4 spg/tied 10th). Allen has led the team in rebounds nine of the 18 games.
Hanson is right behind Allen entering the game in a tie for 18th among the SoCon scoring leaders at 11.6 points per game. Hanson ranks 54th nationally and third in the league averaging 2.8 ?3s' per game, and also 66th shooting 37.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Ben Drayton III (St. Mary's) ranks third in the SoCon shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range. In conference only games, he is averaging 10.9 points per game and hitting 51.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Chattanooga (9-12, 5-5) is coming off a 92-70 loss at home to Davidson on Wednesday night. Stephen McDowell scored a team-high 17 points. Kevin Goffney added 16 points and Nicchaeus Doaks recorded another double-double, 15 points/10 rebounds. Khalil Hartwell nearly added a double-double himself, finishing with nine points and game-high 13 rebounds. The Mocs turned the ball over 18 times and were actually out-rebounded by one, 41-40. UTC shot only 38.9 percent from the field.
Overall the Mocs have lost two straight to SoCon foes but prior to that had won five straight. McDowell leads the scoring attack and ranks second in the league with 19.3 points per game, shooting 43.2 percent from 3-point range (89-206). Doaks ranks first among the league rebounding leaders averaging 9.5 per game, in addition to his 13.7 points and fourth-most 25 blocked shots. Keyron Sheard has dished out a team-leading 78 assists.
