Eagles Bow Out Of SoCon Tournament With Loss To App State
3/5/2011 1:43:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Georgia Southern's 2011 Men's Basketball season came to an end against Appalachian State, 65-57 in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament Friday, March 4th. All-SoCon Junior Ben Drayton (St. Marys, Ga.) led the Eagles (5-27) with 16 points and five assists, but Appalachian State's (16-14) Donald Sims scored 20 points to cement the victory.
"We made too many small mistakes today and they added up," said Georgia Southern Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "We have a small margin for error out there and we didn't play perfectly tonight. When you hold teams like Appalachian State to 65 points, you ought to win."
Freshman Jelani Hewitt (Oakland Park, Fla.) scored 15 points while freshman Marvin Baynham (Miami, Fla.) closed his first year in Statesboro out in style scoring a career-high 13 points, nine coming in the second half. Baynham tied App. State's Anthony Breeze for the game high with seven rebounds.
"We executed fairly well tonight but not as good as we could have," said Eagle forward Marvin Baynham.
Senior Rory Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.), who was hampered by injury, but contributed 21 minutes, finished his collegiate career at Georgia Southern ranked fourth on the career blocks shot with 97. SoCon All-Freshman honoree Eric Ferguson (Statesboro, Ga.) added five points and four rebounds. Sophomore Cameron Baskerville (Marietta, Ga.) scored four points and
The game's first half was a defensive struggle with Georgia Southern dictating the methodical tempo. The Eagles led by as many as three in the first half's waning minutes but a 6-2 ASU run over the final 2:52 gave the Mountaineers a 22-21 halftime lead. GSU shot 9-for-26 (.346) in the first half while Appalachian was 6-of-16 (.375) from the field scoring a season-low baskets in the first half.
Neither team was able to grab control of the game in the first 10 minutes of the second half with six ties and two lead changes. Georgia Southern tied the game for the last time at 10:14 at 35-35 with a three-pointer from Hewitt. The long-distance basket was the first three-pointer of the game for the Eagles.
The Mountaineers, however, went on the attack with an 11-4 run over the next three minutes to take a seven-point lead at 6:57. The Mountaineers led by as many as eight at 5:49 but a 5-0 Georgia Southern run trimmed the lead to three points, 50-47 ASU at the 4:38 mark. Appalachian State responded with four consecutive points to push the lead to 54-47 with just over three minutes left in the game.
Drayton scored on a running lay-in to cut the led to four points at 1:11, 58-54, but the Eagles wouldn't get any closer. Held to only one basket over a five-minute stretch at the end of the game, ASU made it count at the line, hitting 7-for-10 in the final two minutes.
The Eagles shot an improved .478 (11-for-23) in the second half from the field to shoot .408 (20-for-49) in the game. The Mountaineers were .500 (12-for-24) from the field and shot .450 (18-for-40) overall. Both teams struggled from downtown. Georgia Southern was 1-for-9 from downtown and Appalachian State shot 2-for-10 from the bonusphere.
Georgia Southern out-rebounded the Mountaineers 31-30 in the game with a 12-8 advantage on the offensive glass. The Eagles committed just 12 turnovers and took four steals in the game.
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