Box Score  Final Stats

NORFOLK, Va. – Georgia Southern Men's Basketball dropped a 86-69 decision to Old Dominion in the Eagles' second domestic game of the 2013 Cancun Challenge. A hot shooting first half propelled the Monarchs to a 14-point halftime advantage. A game-high 28 points from Tre Bussey wasn't enough for the visitors who turn their attention to a Tuesday afternoon contest against Oral Roberts in Cancun, Mexico.

"Old Dominion did a great job today shooting the ball," said Head Coach Mark Byington. "We've watched a lot of tape on them and that is the best they have shot all year. I think our inexperience in our new roles hurt us a little bit today. Our offense wasn't very good in the first half today, but I feel like we played better in the second half."

ODU (4-1) shot the hot rock in the first half, going 16-for-27 from the field (59.3%) and adding eight three-pointers in the opening stanza. The hosts went on to shoot 52% for the night, but did not make a three-ball in the second half.

Georgia Southern's (2-3) offense recorded 69 points on the night on 35% shooting with seven baskets from downtown. The Eagles were 22-of-28 from the free throw line (78%) to atone for a rough night at the line against West Virginia.

Tre Bussey led all scorers with 28 points as he posts his fifth-straight game of 20+ points to open the 2013-14 season. He scored 12 of those points from the charity stripe while going 7-of-14 from the field.

Jelani Hewitt knocked down three from downtown to kick in 23 points on the afternoon. Marvin Byanham made his 100th career appearance for the Eagles, scoring four points.

Aaron Bacote paced the Monarchs with 26 points while Jordan Baker knocked down four-of-five from downtown to finish the night with 17 points.

GSU trailed by 14 at the intermission and cut the lead to 10 early in the second period. ODU answered that by taking the lead back to 18 points less than four minutes later. After trailing by as many as 20 with 6:16 left, GSU rallied again, cutting ODU's lead to 11 with 3:42 left. The Monarchs answered again, this time scoring six-straight points in less than a minute to put the game to bed. 

Georgia Southern will fly to Cancun, Mexico on Sunday morning and begin preparations for a Tuesday afternoon contest against Oral Roberts. That game starts at 3 p.m. with live radio coverage on the Georgia Southern/Nelligan Sports Radio Network.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and witter.com/GSAthletics, and its "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.