Upset-Minded Eagles Fall at Maryland, 70-53
11/25/2012 3:07:59 AM | Men's Basketball
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COLLEGE PARK, MD. – Georgia Southern Men’s Basketball gave Maryland a fright on Saturday night at the Comcast Center, trailing by just three points at halftime before the Terps took the 70-53 result. C.J. Reed led the team with 15 points on the night with a pair of three-pointers and some solid drives to the basket. The Eagles out-played the Terps on Saturday night as Georgia Southern gets primed for the SoCon opener at home against Elon on Wednesday.
“Our players out-played the Terrapins and our game plan gave Maryland trouble,” said Head Coach Charlton “C.Y.” Young. “We gave these guys a game, but our shots didn’t fall as well as we would have liked tonight. Our guys did a lot of things we wanted to do, but we made some mental errors that really cost us tonight.”
Reed led all scorers with 15 points in his best performance in Eagle colors. He also tallied a pair of assists while sharing team-high rebounding honors with Eric Ferguson at five boards. Ferguson scored 13 points in the contest with three steals and a pair of assists. As a unit, GSU was out-rebounded 49-25 by a long Maryland squad.
The Terrapins put four scorers in double-figures paced by 13 points from Charles Mitchell. He also had 11 rebounds. Logan Aronhalt went 4-for-4 from downtown with 12 points.
Tre Bussey added three three-pointers to finish the game with 11 points. Brian Holmes went scoreless, but contributed with three of the Eagles’ 10 steals. GSU forced the Terps into 17 turnovers which the Eagles converted into 23 points. The Terrapins, however, scored 37 of their 70 points off the bench.
The Eagles raced out to an early 9-1 lead with a trio of three-pointers in the first three minutes of the game.. The Eagles forced 10 first half turnovers off six steals to keep the margin down to three points at the interval.
Out of the halftime break the Eagles slowed from the field as Maryland started the second half with a 22-9 run. That set the table for the Terps to outscore the Eagles 41-27 in the final 20 minutes. GSU shot just 32.3% from the field in the second half while the Terps shot 58.6% in the final stanza.
With the loss, GSU falls to 2-3 on the year while Maryland improves to 5-1 overall.
Following Saturday’s game, GSU returns home to open SoCon play against Elon on Wednesday night. The game against the Phoenix starts at 7 p.m. inside Hanner Fieldhouse.
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