DALLAS, TEXAS - Georgia Southern Men's Basketball sliced a 12-point SMU lead with 12 minutes remaining to just two points in the waning minutes, but dropped a 55-49 decision to the Mustangs on Sunday afternoon (November 27th) at Moody Coliseum. The Eagles held the hot shooting SMU squad to 55 points, one of its lowest outputs of the season. Georgia Southern opens SoCon play on Thursday (December 1st) night at Hanner Fieldhouse starting at 7 p.m.

"This loss hurts for everyone on the team because we invested in the game," said Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "We are growing as a team every time out, and I think we did some really good things in this game. I'm happy that we held them to 37% shooting and played more disciplined than we have earlier this season."

The sophomore duo of Eric Ferguson (Statesboro, Ga.) and Jelani Hewitt (Miramar, Fla.) each scored 14 points to lead the Eagles in the contest. Hewitt made a pair of second half three-pointers to help the Eagles rally late. He grabbed five rebounds while Ferguson tallied six boards.

Georgia Southern (1-4) was out-rebounded for just the second time this season, trailing 36-25 on the glass with SMU (4-3) taking 15 offensive rebounds. Cannen Cunningham led the Mustangs with 18 points while London Giles scored 14 and Robert Nyakundi added 11.

Freshman Jessie Pernell (North Augusta, S.C.) had a breakout night with a career high eight points including two three-pointers in 26 minutes of action.

Down by nine at halftime, Georgia Southern went on a 4-0 run to start the second half and trail by just five with 18:40 remaining. The Mustangs came out to run, extending the lead to 15 points by the 12:50 mark. The lead shrunk to six points at 8:07 in the 2nd half before the Mustangs tallied their final field goal of the game at the 7:51 mark.

From that point, Georgia Southern went on a 9-2 run to make the lead 51-49 at the 1:49 mark following a jumper by Hewitt. The Eagles made a pair of big defensive stops, but foul shots for the Mustangs took the lead to six points at the final horn, 55-49.

The Eagles return hope and open Southern Conference play on Thursday night, December 1st, at 7 p.m. against Chattanooga. The Eagles continue their two-game homestand on Saturday night (December 3rd) against Appalachian State at 7:30 p.m. from Hanner Fieldhouse.

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