Eagles Fall to Colonels 79-73
1/2/2011 11:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Basketball team pulled within five points of Eastern Kentucky with three minutes left in the game but two field goals and 83.3 percent (10-12) shooting from the free throw line over three minutes secured the Colonels win, 79-73. Georgia Southern shot 61.3 percent and scored 52 points in the second half, but Eastern Kentucky escaped with the victory.
Eastern Kentucky's Josh Daniel led all scorers with a career-best 24 points while Spencer Perrin paired a career-high 10 rebounds with 18 points for a double-double. Junior guard Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.) led Georgia Southern with 18 points while senior forward Rory Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) brought down a team-high six rebounds. Eastern Kentucky moved to 6-8 overall while Georgia Southern fell to 4-11 on the season.
Down 38-21 at the half, both the Eagles and Colonels swapped field goals to start the second period. Over the next six minutes, Georgia Southern went on a 15-0 run to pull within one point of EKU. Eastern Kentucky responded with a 15-4 run in a three-and-a-half-minute span to pull out to 56-43 with nine minutes left. Eight unanswered points, five from Drayton and a trey from freshman guard Jelani Hewitt (Oakland Park, Fla.), would slice the lead to five, 56-51.
Eastern Kentucky would build its lead to double-figures at the foul line when a quick 7-2 run by the Eagles cut the lead to five at the 3:41mark. Georgia Southern would stay within single digits of the lead for the remainder of the game but the Colonels took advantage of free throw opportunities over the last two minutes to maintain the margin until time expired.
Three other Eagles joined Drayton in double figures as freshman forward Eric Ferguson (Statesboro, Ga.) and sophomore guard Zuri James (Stone Mountain, Ga.) scored 13 points each while Hewitt finished with 11.
Eastern Kentucky shot 56.5 percent in the first half and had an early 12-6 lead. A three-pointer and layup by Hewitt and Ferguson would put GS within two, 13-11, but costly turnovers by the Eagles would help the Colonels go on a 17-8 run to a 30-19 advantage with four minutes left. Eastern Kentucky would go into the locker room up 17 points. The Eagles committed 16 turnovers in the first half, which resulted in 22 of EKU's 38 points.
Georgia Southern resumes league play as it plays host to Western Carolina Wednesday, January 5th at 7 p.m. The Eagles then travel to Appalachian State (Jan. 8) before returning to Statesboro to begin a two-game homestand against Wofford (Jan. 12) and Furman (Jan. 15).
The game against the Catamounts has a special admission price of $1. Ticket windows at Hanner open one hour before tipoff.
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