Box Score
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Georgia Southern Men's Basketball took its first win over Furman at Timmons Arena since the 2007-08 season with an 82-73 win to complete the series sweep over the Paladins. Jelani Hewitt made three first-half three pointers en route to 22 points in the penultimate SoCon regular season game.

"The guys played really hard tonight," said Head Coach Mark Byington. "They've got floor burns and scrapes because they were diving for balls and fighting to win the game and that is what we like to see. I thought we shot lights out to start the game and we played very well in the first half. Furman made a simple adjustment early and it helped them get shots to fall. I'm happy that we came back and went on a nice run through the rest of the second half."

The Eagles (13-17, 6-9 SoCon) led by 13 points at the intermission, but had a rough spell to start the second half as the Paladins (9-20, 3-13 SoCon) scored 11-straight points to open the stanza and cut the GS lead to just two. The Eagles, however, righted the ship and built the lead back to eight points with just under 12 minutes left in the game.

Hewitt led the Eagles in scoring with 22 points. In total, four Eagles scored in double figures with Tre Bussey adding 17 points. Brian Holmes had 14 points while Curtis Diamond posted 11.

Furman responded again and eventually tied the game with 7:55 left in the game. The Paladins, however, never took the lead as Georgia Southern ballooned the lead back to seven points entering the final minute.

Over that final minute, Georgia Southern made 9-of-10 at the free throw line to take the nine-point victory.

Stephen Croome scored 26 points to pace the Paladins with a 13-of-15 showing at the free throw stripe.

Georgia Southern out-rebounded the Paladins 31-23 behind nine boards from senior Marvin Baynham who is playing his best basketball down the stretch. GS shot 52.9% from the field.

Next up for the Eagles is the 2013-14 regular season finale. Georgia Southern faces The Citadel on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. in Charleston.

The 2014 Southern Conference Basketball Tournament starts next Friday with the Eagles in action on the tournament's opening day. Get your free tickets for the SoCon Tournament by calling 1-800-GSU-WINS. Tickets must be claimed by Wednesday, March 5th.

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.