Georgia Southern Tops Reinhardt, 108-59, for Coach Young's First Win
11/14/2009 5:03:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern men's basketball team gave Charlton "C.Y." Young the best gift for his official homecoming - a 108-59 victory for his first-ever win as a head coach. The 1994 alum and Eagle Hall of Fame point guard accepted congratulations from well-wishers after the final buzzer and then stood on the sidelines for a while.
"I am proud of all the guys, and I am happy with our effort and willingness to defend," said Young. "We have to take the next step, do some things better and work on some other things. We are getting very close to playing as a team," said Young. "We improved the way we moved the ball, but we need to work on our transition defense and rebounding."
Junior Johntavious Rucker (Decatur, Ga.) tied Rory Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) for the team lead with 16 points as five Eagles scored in double figures. Rucker, who missed the entire 2008-09 season with a knee injury, added 10 rebounds and narrowly missed a triple-double, but set the school record with eight steals. Freshman Cameron Baskerville (Marietta, Ga.) led Georgia Southern on the boards with 12 in his first collegiate game and had nine total points. Willie Powers III (Gainesville, Fla.) had 15 points with six assists in his first action back since missing 19 games in 2008-09 with a knee injury. Senior Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) and sophomore Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.) came off the bench with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
The Eagles took a commanding 35-11 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in first half and extended the lead to 36 points, 58-22, just before the break. Rucker scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half and the Eagles brought the lead to its largest at 103-50 late in the game. Georgia Southern hit 23-40 from the field for 57.5 percent for the first half and 55.4 percent for the game (41-74). Georgia Southern distributed the ball well, with 28 assists on the 41 baskets. All 11 Eagles who played scored.
Reinhardt's Quinton Spivey had 16 points off 7-12 shooting to tie Rucker and Spencer for the game lead. Reinhardt's leading scorer Kordel Alexander was held to three points.
The Eagles focus on defense during preseason showed in the box score as they scored 43 of their total points off Reinhardt turnovers (27) and recorded 17 steals overall to go along with 25 rebounds on the defensive glass. Georgia Southern held Reinhardt to 33 percent shooting in the first half and 43 percent overall. Spencer had three of the team's four blocks.
Offensively for Georgia Southern, the 108 point-total was the highest since a Nov. 12, 2006 game vs. UC Davis (116) and the most at Hanner Fieldhouse since a 111-73 win over Webber International on Jan. 3, 2006.
Georgia Southern heads to Columbia, S.C. for its first road game of the season at South Carolina. The 7 p.m. game will be televised by SportSouth.
