Men’s Basketball Rolls Past Truett-McConnell, 90-57

Monday, December 22

Statesboro, Ga.

6 PM

Georgia Southern University

7-2

Truett-McConnell

7-7Exhibition

Truett-McConnell

Georgia Southern

Kyle Doyle

Photo by: Frank Fortune - Georgia Southern Athletics

12/22/2014 9:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Eagles close non-conference play with 7-2 mark

STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Men's Basketball took a 90-57 win over Truett-McConnell on Monday night inside Hanner Fieldhouse behind a season-best 18 points and nine rebounds from Trent Wiedeman to pace the Eagles. GS improved to 7-2, closing its second-best non-conference run in program history, as Sun Belt play begins on December 30th at Texas Arlington.

"We wanted to come out and play our best game of the year, and that is our goal every game," said Head Coach Mark Byington. "Our guys came out with a great mentality, and I think our guys got off to a great start. Truett-McConnell made some shots early in the second half and we went into a bit of a defensive fog. I was happy about a lot of things today, and I'm happy with our non-conference play. I hope it prepared us for conference play starting up after the break."

Wideman led all scorers with 18 points as he matched his season-best output. Jelani Hewitt entered the game as the nation's leading scorer and posted a season-low 15 points in 24 minutes of play. He also had five assists and three steals. Hewitt entered the game averaging 24.1 ppg, but has scored an impressive 26.1 ppg against Division I opponents.

Curtis Diamond and Kyle Doyle also scored in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively as the pair helped the Eagles go 24-for-28 from the free throw line. The offense was in harmony for Georgia Southern with 21 assists while the Eagles dominated the rebounding glass 46-32.

Truett-McConnell (7-7) was led by 16 points from Andretti Loyd and 14 from JR Hurst. The Bears were plagued by 15 turnovers, allowing nine Eagle turnovers while forcing just nine Georgia Southern turnovers.

The Eagles led from the opening tip, taking the first 11 points before Truett-McConnell got off the mark at the 15:27 point of the first half. Georgia Southern led by 21 at halftime, 41-20, and stretched the lead to as many as 34 in the waning minutes.

The Eagles will break for the holidays and return to action on December 30th at Texas Arlington in the Sun Belt Conference debut for Georgia Southern on the hardwood. The women's game starts at 6 p.m. (ET) with the men's contest following at 8:15 p.m. (ET).

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