Men’s Basketball Survives a Tussle at North Carolina A&T

Saturday, December 28

Greensboro, N.C.

2 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

7-7

North Carolina A&T

3-10

Georgia Southern

NCATM

Photo by: Frank Fortune - Georgia Southern Athletics

12/28/2013 5:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Hewitt’s 19 second half points leads Eagles to victory

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Georgia Southern Men's Basketball picked up a crucial 66-63 win over North Carolina A&T on Saturday afternoon in the Triad. Jelani Hewitt scored 23 points with nine rebounds off the bench while Tre Bussey had 15 for the victorious Eagles. Georgia Southern continues their road swing with a visit to Campbell on Monday night at 7 p.m.

"It would be easy to say that our good shooting won that game, but I felt it was our defense that won us this game," said Head Coach Mark Byington. "We only had a few things to correct at halftime and those changes helped our flow. We played very well defensively in the second half and I think that should be a springboard for us."

The Eagles trailed 31-28 at halftime, but a three-pointer out of the locker room leveled the score at 31-31. The Eagles took the lead with 16:04 remaining and did not trail for the rest of the contest.

Georgia Southern led by six with two minutes and the Aggies got the lead down to just one with 25 seconds left, but a pair of free throws from Hewitt gave the visitors a three point lead with 15 seconds left. A pair of desperation three-pointers by the Aggies in the final seconds were unsuccessful as the Eagles rolled out of Greensboro with the win.

The win lifts the Eagles to 7-7 on the year with one non-conference game remaining on the docket. A&T falls for the first time at home this year and is 3-10 on the season.

Hewitt was instrumental to the win, making a pair of late free throws to go a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. The redshirt junior played 24 minutes, coming off the bench for the first time this season. Bussey played 37 minutes and scored nine of his 15 points from beyond the arc.

Brian Holmes and Marvin Baynham each added eight points to the cause with Holmes posting a team-best three assists and Baynham fouling out with less than two minutes remaining.

Georgia Southern was efficient shooting the ball, going 45.5% from the field and 38.1% from downtown on the afternoon. North Carolina A&T went 21-of-72 from the field (29.2%), but grabbed 28 offensive rebounds to go with 20 on the defensive glass.

Lamont Middleton led all scorers with 25 points, scoring 16 of those in the first stanza. Bruce Beckford and Jeremy Underwood each posted 11 points for the home side.

Georgia Southern will be back in action on Monday night when the Eagles travel to face Campbell. That game in Buies Creek starts 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 twitter.com/GSAthletics.