Eagles Drop Heartbreaker to Samford 57-55
1/27/2012 4:06:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Georgia Southern Men's Basketball dropped a tough 57-55 loss to Samford on Thursday night. The Eagles had two chances in the final 30 seconds to win the game, but saw a runner at the horn miss its mark. The loss drops Georgia Southern to 8-12 overall and 6-4 in SoCon play while Samford improves to 6-13 overall and 3-5 in the league.
"I felt like our young team fought hard, but this has been a tough stretch of lots of four games in a week," said Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "In the second half we got a little bit undisciplined and that hurt us in terms of fouls. I was proud of a lot of things we did tonight, but we gave up 17 turnovers and 10 from our points. What we need to do is make sure we can split this road trip and take the fight to Chattanooga on Saturday night."
Jelani Hewitt (Miramar, Fla.) scored 23 points, reaching the 20-point barrier for the second time this season in league play. He was 9-for-15 from the field and 5-for-10 from downtown to post a new season high. He also led the team with six rebounds. Eric Ferguson (Statesboro, Ga.) scored 14 points with three steals.
Senior point guard Willie Powers III (Gainesville, Fla.) scored five points and added seven assists on the night. He was joined on five points by Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.).
The Eagles, however, made 17 turnovers which the Bulldogs turned into 15 points. Samford was led by Drew Windler with 18 points on 2-for-5 shooting from downtown.
In the opening half, Georgia Southern's offense struggled to convert opportunities and finished 8-of-22 from the field (36.4%). The Bulldogs committed seven first half turnovers, but shot 41.7% from the field and 27.3% from downtown.
Out of the break, Georgia Southern needed just 69 seconds to level the scores at 26 behind a trio of dunks from Ferguson. The Eagles would lead by as many as four points at the 17:21 mark in the second half.
Samford went up by five points on a three-pointer with just over four minutes remaining. Hewitt, however, answered with his fifth three pointer of the night to cut the lead back to two points.
With a minute left in the game, the Eagles trailed 56-54. Powers was fouled on a drive and made one of two free throws with 50.3 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 56-55. The Bulldogs missed their field goal attempt from the paint which allowed the Eagles a chance to tie the game in the final seconds.
A three-point try from Hewitt in the corner found back iron and the Eagles were forced to foul on the play. Samford's Jeffrey Merritt made one of two free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining, giving the Bulldogs a 57-55 lead.
Marvin Baynham (Miami, Fla.) keyed the ball into Ferguson who handed the ball to Drayton on the run. Drayton drove the lane and had a tough runner hit the rim twice, but fell away as the clock struck 00.0.
The Eagles shot 60.9% from the field in the final half to finish the night at 22-of-45 (48.9%) from the field. Samford fell to 38.1% from the field in the waning minutes to finish at 18-of-45 (40.0%).
Georgia Southern travels just up the road to Chattanooga for a Saturday night special against the Mocs. Gametime for the contest is 7:30 p.m. inside the McKenzie Arena. Earlier this season, GSU downed the Mocs 84-76 in Statesboro to open Southern Conference play.
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