Hot Shooting by Citadel Leads to Win Over Eagles
12/3/2010 6:02:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - A season-best 48.3 percent from the floor and four players scoring in double-figures would lead The Citadel to a 65-52 win over Georgia Southern Thursday night at McAlister Field House. For the fifth-straight game Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.) led the Eagles in scoring, recording a game-high 14 points. Sam Mike (Atlanta, Ga.) crashed the boards for career-high seven rebounds to lead Georgia Southern.
Zach Urbanus, Bryan Streeter and Austin Dahn shared top scorer honors for the Bulldogs as each scored 13 points. Streeter was also the team's leading rebounder with seven. Cameron Wells also scored in double figures with 10 points.
A 21-8 run over the last 10 minutes of the first half by The Citadel helped put the Bulldogs in the driver's seat through the second half despite a12-2 run by the Eagles in the middle of the second half to cut the lead to 12.
Senior Rory Spencer's (Atlanta, Ga.) absence from the floor due to injury helped the Bulldogs record a game-high 43 rebounds, 28 on the defensive side, to cut second-chance opportunities on possessions for the Eagles. Georgia Southern recorded 30 total rebounds, 13 on the offensive glass.
Strong shooting from the charity stripe helped the Eagles cut into the lead during the second half. During a seven-minute stretch, that started at the 16:36 mark, the Eagles connected from 7-8 at the line to aid a 15-6 Georgia Southern run, trimming the score 53-40 with 8:36 left in the game. The lead would fluctuate over the last eight minutes but the margin stayed at 13 when time expired.
Both teams swapped turns being on top early in the game. Georgia Southern would clinch to a three-point lead, 10-7, at the 15:10 mark before a 9-0 run by The Citadel made it 10-16. A pair of successful free-throws by Eric Ferguson (Statesboro, Ga.) would cut the lead 16-12 with 11:19 to go in the first-half before the Bulldogs scored on nine of their last 12 possessions to go into halftime up, 38-20.
Ferguson and Tré Bussey (Lithia Springs, Ga.) joined Drayton in double figures as they ended the night with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Georgia Southern will stay in Charleston as it travels across town to play, College of Charleston at 6 p.m on Saturday night in the Carolina First Arena. Fans can watch the game on CSS or listen to it online at www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision, fans in the Statesboro area can listen to WPMX 102.9 as Justin Baker will have the play-by-play.
Fans can follow the Eagles on GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or get short updates on facebook.com/GSAthletics or twitter.com/GSAthletics. For in-game scoring, visit twitter.com/GSScores or follow live stats by clicking on the "live stats" link in the schedule section at the bottom of the athletics website www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com.
