Campbell...................... 34 28 13 - 75
Georgia Southern.............. 29 33 11 - 73
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CAMPBELL (4-3)
MASON 8-19 3-4 20; HAMER 6-10 2-2 15; RYAN 5-9 0-0 14; LEEK 3-5 1-2 10; LEONARD 4-11 0-0 9; OLIVER 1-6 0-0 3; McCARTER 1-6 0-0 2; RAY 1-2 0-0 2; HARRIS 0-0 0-2 0.
Totals 29-68 6-10 75.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN (3-5)
HEWITT 11-27 13-14 38; BUSSEY 8-20 0-3 19; MATIAS 4-6 0-0 8; BAYNHAM 2-2 0-0 4; DIAMOND 1-11 0-0 3; DOYLE 0-1 1-4 1; MIKE 0-1 0-0 0; THOMAS 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals 26-69 14-21 73.
3-point goals--Campbell 11-28, Georgia Southern 7-25.
Rebounds--Campbell 45, Georgia Southern 43.
Assists--Campbell 13, Georgia Southern 8.
STATESBORO, Ga. – A turnover with three seconds left in overtime opened the door for a layup at the buzzer by Campbell's Quinton Ray to give the Fighting Camels a wild 75-73 win at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Jelani Hewitt led the Eagles with 38 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double going 11-for-27 from the field and 13-for-14 at the free throw line. Georgia Southern is back at home on Wednesday night to face Brewton-Parker at 7 p.m.
"A lot of times you look at the final score and see that we lost by two on the final play, but really it was the plays that led up to that," said Head Coach
Mark Byington. "We had a lot of chances to win the game before that moment, but it wasn't to be. I was happy that we showed toughness in the second half. We still weren't playing as well as we could, but we were playing hard."
Georgia Southern (3-5) will get another shot at Campbell (4-3) in one month's time when the Eagles travel to Buies Creek for the return leg of this season's home-and-home non-conference series.
A three-pointer by
Tre Bussey with 1:20 left in regulation forced the extra frame as both teams saw game-winning opportunities scuttled in the final minute. Down the stretch in overtime Hewitt made four-straight free throws to level the game at 73-73. The Camels had an opportunity with eight seconds remaining with clanged off the backboard and fell to Bussey. He brought the ball up the floor, but was dispossessed at the three-point line. Ray, who made the steal, took the ball coast-to-coast and layed it in as the clock expired.
Hewitt's 38 points made him the first Eagle to score 30+ since Ben Drayton dropped 31 against Wofford in 2010-11. 20 of his points came in the first half as the Eagles trailed by five at the break.
Tre Bussey added 15 second half points, finishing the night with 19 as the only other Eagle in double figures. He also added four assists in the contest. As a team, Georgia Southern shot 37.7% from the field and went 45.2% from the field in the second half.
Campbell had four players in double figures, led by 20 from D.J. Mason off the bench. Kyre' Hamer also added 15 off the bench. Andrew Ryan and Leek Leek rounded out the top-scorers with 14 and 10 each.
Angel Matias secured nine rebounds with eight points as the Eagle starters scored 72 of the team's 73 points on the night. 38 of the points for GS came in the paint as the Eagles got the drive working against Campbell's defense.
Next up for Georgia Southern is a Wednesday night game against Brewton-Parker. Tipoff from Hanner Fieldhouse is at 7 p.m.
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.
