Second Half Rally Falls Short at Furman
1/20/2012 3:13:00 AM | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Georgia Southern Men's Basketball recorded a 12-0 run in the second half, but it wasn't enough to erase a 10-point halftime deficit against Furman on Thursday night. The Eagles dropped their third consecutive road game, 64-54 to the Paladins at Timmons Arena.
"We had a golden opportunity tonight to get a big road conference win against a banged up Furman squad, but I feel like we got out-worked tonight," said Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "Unfortunately tonight, we let our poor shooting from the field hurt us on both sides of the ball. I really dislike the fact that we had the chance to push teams like Furman and Wofford down and really take a good position in the South Division."
Sophomore Eric Ferguson (Statesboro, Ga.) led the Eagles (6-11, 4-3 SoCon) with 15 points, eight rebounds and a season-high four steals. Georgia Southern forced 20 total turnovers and grabbed 13 steals on the night. On the downside, the Eagles were out-rebounded by a 42-28 margin.
Senior Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.) scored 11 points while sophomore Tre Bussey (Lithia Springs, Ga.) dropped 10 points on the night. Bussey had a pair of early three-pointers to match his season high.
Furman (9-9, 3-4 SoCon) was led by a pair of 16-point scorers with Charlie Reddick scored 16 points with 14 rebounds. Brandon Sebirumbi also had 16 points with nine rebounds for the Paladins.
Furman took a 35-25 advantage into the locker room at halftime after shooting nearly 50% in the opening period. The Paladins rattled off seven-straight points to open the second half before the Eagles started their run.
Georgia Southern initiated a 12-0 run to claw back into the game off four points from Hewitt and three more from Ferguson. The spurt cut Furman's lead to 42-37 with just over nine minutes remaining.
The lead remained at nine through the four-minute media timeout. Out of the break, Powers converted a pair of free throws to cut the lead to seven points. The Paladins, however, earned a three-point shooting foul on the next trip down the court as time was about to expire on the shot clock. Sebirumbi made all three from the stripe to give Furman a 10-point lead.
Hewitt made two-of-three free throws, followed by a turnover and a layup by Drayton to cut the lead back to eight points with just over a minute remaining. Furman made their free throws down the stretch and held on for the 64-54 win.
"Our focus now is responding and defending our home court against Charleston and The Citadel this weekend," added Young.
The Eagles return home on Saturday night to face College of Charleston for the first time in the 2011-12 season. The game is part of Georgia Southern's "Pack the House in Pink" doubleheader to benefit breast cancer research. Saturday's game starts at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN3.com.
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