TROY, Ala. – Georgia Southern got 20 points from freshman Tookie Brown and 32 from its bench to hold off Troy 77-71 in Sun Belt Conference men's basketball action Thursday night in Trojan Arena.

It was the ninth game this season with 20-plus points for Brown, who broke Georgia Southern records for single-season points and free throws by a freshman. He made 4 of 8 from the field, knocked down all 11 of his free throws and tied his career high with eight rebounds.

Mike Hughes tallied 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals, and Jake Allsmiller scored nine for Georgia Southern (11-12, 7-6), which won its fourth straight contest. Jonathan Sanks and Montae Glenn led the charge off the bench with nine points each, and Devonte Boykins chipped in seven points, a career-high seven rebounds and three assists.

John Walton III tallied 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Troy (7-17, 2-11), while Shawn Hopkins added 18 points and 10 boards. Wesley Person registered 16 points, six rebounds and two assists.

The story
Georgia Southern led by 12 following an Allsmiller triple with 5:18 to play, but Troy went on an 11-4 run and cut it to 70-65 on a Hopkins steal and breakaway dunk with 2:25 remaining. The Trojans got the ball back, but Person missed a jumper. Hughes made 1 of 2 free throws to put the Eagles ahead by six with 1:27 to go. The score stayed that way until Walton III's putback with 40 seconds left. Brown and Hughes combined to go 6 for 6 from the free-throw line to seal the win.

The Eagles fell in a 14-2 hole after coming out cold and hitting just one of their first 11 shots of the game, including 0 for 9 from 3-point range. Georgia Southern got hot in a hurry and made eight in a row to get back in the contest. With the scored tied 27-27, the Eagles outscored the Trojans 9-1 to cap the half. Allsmiller and Devince Boykins canned triples during the run, and Sanks hit a runner to put the Eagles up 36-28 at the break.

Georgia Southern never trailed in the second half and kept the lead between six and 12 points until the final 2:30 of the contest. 

Quotables
Sanks
"Coach preaches, 'stay ready; you never know when your time will come' so when he calls your number, you have to be ready. I prepared all week, and I was ready."

Georgia Southern coach Mark Byington
"We stunk at the beginning. We came out and ran three or four plays that we'd been working on for the last three or four days completely wrong. I was bewildered on how we did that or why we did that, but we just had to calm down and understand that it's a long game. I just wanted them to try to put a couple possessions together."

"It was a night where we needed a bunch of guys to step up. Devince played a ton of minutes and stepped up. Montae – I feel like he's been getting better and better – made some tough baskets, and Jonathan came out with confidence and made some plays and made some shots and brought energy. It was definitely a team effort with everybody making plays to help us win."

"What made me happiest about this game was seeing teammates happy for the guys who haven't played as much and their success. It's an unselfish team, and usually that's a team that's going to play together and play well." 

Next Up
Georgia Southern travels to South Alabama for a 5 p.m. ET contest Saturday, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.  Following Saturday's game, the Eagles play four straight at home from Feb. 18-25.

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