Georgia Southern Scores 51 in Second Half to Best UNCG
2/19/2012 3:58:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern Men's Basketball rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to down UNCG 83-69 inside Hanner Fieldhouse on Saturday night. The Eagles stayed hot, winning their league-best sixth-straight game on a soggy night in Statesboro. Ben Drayton III willed the Eagles to the victory with 19 points with 11 coming in the second half.
"I was really proud of our team, we grew up a lot tonight," said Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "I wasn't happy with our play in the first half, we made too many mistakes, but we responded in the second half to take a big win. I've got a lot of respect for the job Wes Miller has done at UNCG with a tough set of circumstances, he has my vote for Coach of the Year."
Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.) scored 19 points to lead the Eagles who posted a season-high 51 points in the second half to take the 14-point victory. Sophomore Jelani Hewitt (Miramar, Fla.) scored 12 points, going 5-for-5 from the free throw line to lead the Eagles at the stripe on a 19-24 night at the line.
Freshman Jessie Pernell (North Augusta, Ga.) set a career high in two categories with 10 points and six rebounds. SoCon Player of the Year Candidate Eric Ferguson (Statesboro, Ga.) matched Pernell's effort with 10 points and six rebounds on the night. Senior Willie Powers III (Gainesville, Fla.) rounded out Georgia Southern's class of five double-figure scorers with 10 points and four assists.
Georgia Southern kept the league's leading scorer, Trevis Simpson to 16 points, two off his season average as four Spartans reached double-figures.
The Eagles gave away 14 first half turnovers for a total of 14 UNCG points at the other end in the first half and trailed 37-32 at the intermission. The Spartans shot 6-of-10 from downtown in the opening period and logged 11 more shots than the Eagles in the opening period. The Eagles shot 57.1% (12-of-21) from the field in the first half to trail by five at the break.
With five minutes gone in the second half, the Eagles erased a seven point deficit and turned it into a three point lead in just over two minutes with a 10-0 run with six of the points coming from Hewitt.
Following a dunk by UNCG's Trevis Simpson with 12:39 remaining, The Eagles would go on a 9-2 run over the next four minutes to bump the lead to eight points, matching the largest for either team to that point in the evening. The lead would grow to 11 points, 66-55 with just over five minutes remaining.
Ferguson helped seal the victory with a pair of dunks in the final two minutes of the game. The Eagles would lead by as many as 16 points in the final seconds before the Spartans cut the lead to 14 with 21 seconds remaining.
The Eagles tallied eight second half offensive rebounds after scoring just one in the first half. UNCG shot 2-of-7 from downtown, cooling to 47.1% from the bonusphere. Georgia Southern bested the Spartans 36-26 in the paint and had just three second-half turnovers to finish the night with 17.
Georgia Southern trails Davidson by two games with two games left for each team in the race for the SoCon South Division Championship. The Eagles are also two games clear of Wofford for second place and a first round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament. Davidson hosts Elon before heading to Statesboro next Saturday night to face the Eagles.
The Eagles travel to the low country of South Carolina for the penultimate game of the 2011-12 regular season as Georgia Southern faces the College of Charleston on Thursday night in Charleston. The game starts at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN3.com.
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