MOBILE, Ala. – Georgi Boyanov scored 20 points and hit the game-winning free throws with 29.8 seconds left to thwart Georgia Southern's comeback bid and lift South Alabama to an 80-76 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball victory over the Eagles Saturday evening in the Mitchell Center.

The Eagles trailed by 17 points with 5:42 to play but used a 21-2 run, aided by four 3-pointers, to tie the score 76-76 with 51 seconds left. Boyanov was fouled on his way to the hoop on the Jaguars' next possession and made both to put South Alabama back on top. 

Tookie Brown drove to the bucket on the Eagles' trip down the floor, but Tafari Whittingham blocked the freshman's shot and the ball wound up out of bounds off the Jags with 18.8 seconds remaining. Georgia Southern found Devonte Boykins for a 3-pointer in the corner but the sophomore's shot was off to the right. The Jags got the rebound and got it up the floor to Ken Williams, who was fouled with 6.7 seconds left. The junior sank two from the charity stripe to seal the win.

Jake Allsmiller knocked down eight 3-pointers, tied for the fourth-most in a game in school history, to score a career-high 29 points for Georgia Southern (11-13, 7-7). Mike Hughes finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists, and Tookie Brown posted 16 points, three steals and two assists.

Boyanov made all six of his shots from the floor, hit 8 of 11 from the foul line and corralled a game-high nine rebounds for South Alabama (11-14, 6-8). Shaq Calhoun scored 20 points off the bench, and Ken Williams collected 15 points and seven assists. Nick Stover scored 12.

The Eagles made 14 of 35 from 3-point range but were outscored 40-20 in the paint. Allsmiller's eight triples were the most for a Georgia Southern player since Antonio Hanson made nine against Elon in 2010.

The story
The Jaguars led by 19 points with 9:06 to play and were ahead 74-57 after a Calhoun 3-pointer with 5:42 left. Brown sank a triple to ignite the Eagle run, Hughes hit a couple layups and bounced a pass between his legs to a trailing Allsmiller, who knocked down his eighth triple of the game. South Alabama stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws over a couple possessions before Hughes dropped in his third 3-pointer of the game to tie the score 76-76.

Leading by two points late in the first half, the Jaguars bridged a 16-4 run over the intermission and opened a 45-29 cushion on a Boyanov spinning layup three minutes into the second half. Boyanov had six points during the run, and Williams scored five, including a driving layup with eight seconds left in the first half that gave South Alabama a 35-27 edge at the break. The Jags opened the second frame with a 10-2 run.

Quotables from Coach Mark Byington
"It was a game where we just did not have it. In the first 30 minutes of the game, we lacked focus, weren't finishing plays, were just hesitant and we weren't guarding. Everything was going wrong. In a game like this, you learn about your team and what some guys are made of. The easy thing to do, the common thing to do is to give in. But the guys kept fighting and kept competing. To have a chance to win the game shows what type of team we have. But we have to get off to better starts – we're much better than we played the first 30 minutes. We can't ever guard like this again or we're never going to win another game."

On Allsmiller
"Jake is a very good 3-point shooter. They zoned a lot, and Jake found some creases, was very aggressive and shot the ball confidently. Once he got going, guys started finding him. When we were really struggling early and things were really ugly, he made some to keep us in the game."

Next up
The Eagles play four straight at home from Feb. 18-25, starting with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Arkansas State Thursday. It's First Responders Night - firemen, police officers and EMTs receive free general admission, and their family can receive discount $5 general admission tickets.

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