Eagles Fall Short at Bradley in Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic
12/18/2012 4:23:50 AM | Men's Basketball
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PEORIA, ILL. – Georgia Southern Men’s Basketball was handed a 62-43 loss at Bradley on Monday evening in the second game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic for the Eagles. GSU tied the game at 31-31 with 16:12 remaining, but the Braves would pull away for the victory in their tournament opener. The Eagles travel to Las Vegas and face Mississippi Valley State on Saturday afternoon in the first of two games on consecutive days at the Orleans Arena
“Bradley out-toughed us tonight and we’ve got to learn from this game,” said Head Coach Charlton “C.Y.” Young. “The game really came down to rebounds and playing physically. I was disappointed that we were pushed around and that we didn’t give a consistent championship effort. What I was proud of was the way we came out and played early in the second half, tying the game up.”
C.J. Reed led the Eagles with 10 points including three buckets from downtown. Cleon Roberts had nine on the night while Tre Bussey scored eight points in the contest.
Georgia Southern was out-rebounded 45-32 including a 19-8 margin on the offensive glass. Bradley went 24-for-18 (.750) from the free throw line while the Eagles were just 3-of-11 (.273) from the charity stripe.
Eric Ferguson saw his run of 12-straight games with double-figure scoring come to an end with four points and seven rebounds. The junior picked up his fourth foul early in the second half and played just 25 minutes in the game. Cameron Baskerville had a balanced night of five points and five rebounds.
Bradley was led by a double-double by Tyson Pickett scoring 17 points with 11 rebounds. Will Egolf scored 12 points with eight rebounds and the Braves posted 30 of their 62 points inside the paint with 19 off second-chance baskets.
The Eagles came out strong, taking a 12-8 lead in the early minutes of the contest as the Braves struggled to shoot early. Of Bradley’s 11 first half field goals, eight came via layup as the Braves shot 33.3% from the field. Despite the poor shooting, the Braves made 6-of-10 from the free throw line in the first half to take a 29-18 lead at the half.
Out of the break, GSU posted a 13-3 run to tie the game at 31-31 with 16:12 left. Bradley, however, responded with an 11-3 run to go up by eight points. The Braves didn’t look back, outscoring the Eagles 20-6 over the final 10:58 to take the victory.
“Our focus now is the two games in Las Vegas,” said Young. “We’re going to try to take what we learned into Mississippi Valley State game and try to impose our will on them.”
The Eagles face Mississippi Valley State at the Orleans Arena from 3 p.m. (ET) on Saturday afternoon. The Georgia Southern Radio Network will provide live coverage of the contest as well as the Eagles’ second game in Las Vegas against either Cal State Bakersfield or North Florida on Sunday afternoon.
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