STATESBORO, Ga. – Tookie Brown scored a career-high 27 points, and Georgia Southern forced 18 Stetson turnovers in a 78-58 men's basketball victory over the Hatters Tuesday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Brown was 10 of 18 from the field and 3 of 6 from 3-point range for Georgia Southern (4-6) while also dishing out five of the Eagles' 17 assists. Ike Smith tallied 12 points, four rebounds and two assists, and Devonte Boykins contributed 11 points and three assists. 

Mike Hughes had six of the Eagles' 11 steals, two shy of the school individual record. The sophomore also tallied seven points, six rebound and three assists. 

Angel Rivera scored 15 points to lead Stetson (4-9), and Brian Pegg collected 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Derick Newton chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds.

Georgia Southern shot 51 percent for the game and had 17 assists on 30 made baskets. The Eagles held the Hatters to 42 percent shooting from the floor and 5 of 20 from 3-point range.
 

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The story
After Stetson whittled a 16-point halftime deficit down to seven midway through the second period, Georgia Southern went on an 11-0 run to regain control of the contest. Boykins started the stretch with a pair of free throws, and Hughes capped it with a layup that made the score 63-45 with 6:06 to go. The margin grew to as many as 21 points on a Brown 3-pointer with 3:10 remaining. With Georgia Southern leading 9-8, Brown scored seven points in a 14-4 Eagle run that opened a 23-12 lead with 7:56 left in the first half. The Eagles then made six of their last eight shots in the period, including three 3-pointers in a row. That hot streak helped Georgia Southern open a 40-24 cushion at the break. Boykins and Hughes each scored five points during that spurt.
 

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Quotable from Coach Mark Byington
"I want them to just lay every single thing on the line and compete, and sometimes you're going to win and sometimes you're going to lose, but we'll live with the results. The guys really responded. The defense is a big part of that and the rebounding is a big part of that. Hopefully, we're learning that when we have success, why we're successful. We've been good on offense for long stretches most of the time, and defense has been our weakness, and hopefully, the guys are understanding that if we want to have a chance to win a game, we have to make sure we're guarding."

On the decisive run in the second half
"We showed the guys that really in every game this year, there has been a two or three-minute segment that breaks the game loose. We had that situation tonight where they went on a nice run, and I had to remind the guys in the huddle that we had a bad three minutes and we need to face adversity and toughen up and get through it. We did a good job of responding and fighting back."
 

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Next up
Georgia Southern opens Sun Belt Conference play on the road for the second straight season when the Eagles travel to Texas State Wednesday, Dec. 30. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

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